Spacetime curvature dinnerware

Korg* had never had dinner in an astrophysicist's home before, so he had already expected it to be a somewhat cerebral affair. But he began to realise that this was going to be a truly immersive experience when he was handed a dark blue wine goblet with a long trumpet-like neck.

Evenly-spaced gridlines described the inner surface of the vessel, the shape of their mathematical regularity nevertheless distorted by the steep plunge down its dark throat. It was only when soup was served that he realised what the significance of these were: In the middle of his soup bowl floated a round dumpling wrapped in a spinach leaf cut in the shape of North America.

*Roland was unavailable.