The Latin/Indian Thing: A follow-up

Catering to India's continued fascination with the spic'ish, Lay's-India has released a new special edition flavor of potatoes chips: Latino Style!

I don't know if the developers have ever visited a Latin American country, if this is just India's interpretation of what Hispanic food tastes like. However, as a born and bred Latino who has sampled the cuisine of various countries I can tell you that those chips did not taste Latino in the least bit.

And on the topic of deceptive Latin things...Amazon, Kolkata's first Latin/Bengali fusion restaurant finally opened and in our quest to explore new restaurants my friend Neela and I venture forth.

And oh how we were disappointed. Let's start with the ambiance. Apparently they were going for some sort of tree trunk look that could have been cute if they had gone all the way, but apparently they ran out of money half way or got bored with it. Second apparently the Amazon was in North America because the walls had carvings of American Indians (the feather kind). The music playing was some sort of 80's elevator music greatest hits compilation. And the menu consisted of North Indian dishes and Indian Chinese selections. We were hard pressed to find a Bengali item on the menu let a lone a Latin one.

So much like my Bangalore Taco experience, I just need to learn that it takes a spic to make real Latin food, and what am I thinking believing that I will be able to get good Hispanic food in Asia.