The Latin/Indian Thing

Fashionistas and Gourmands across the western world will not argue the influence that India has had on designs and foods. From fabrics, to decor, to spices, the sway of the subcontinent can be felt all around. But the question remains - Who influences Indian style and tastes?

After 4-5 months of roughing it on the so called third world (my water heater conked out on me so until it gets fixed I am definitely roughing it) I have come to realize that Latino culture is a major influencer of Indian trends. Go Spics!

From Ricky Martin to Shakira Latin music can be found everywhere, with a very captive audience. Latin influenced musicians abound (you have not lived until you have heard Bengali salsa!) and Latin fusion restaurants are popping up through out the country (granted they still cannot seem to get Mexican food quite right). Just around the corner from my house they are opening “Amazon: A Latin/Bengali Restaurant.”

Not to mention that Spanish is fastly becoming a popular language to learn. Cannot tell you the number of times I have been introduced as “This is Andy, he speaks Spanish!” followed by copious oohs and aahs and requests for teaching. I could probably make quite a living if I charged for being the token spic (who knew that would get me somewhere!?).

I found this interesting because Puerto Rico in 2005 opened its first Indian restaurant, it is not any good, but it is a start.

As proud of my Hispanic heritage as I may be, it gives me no greater pleasure than to know that we are crossing are making our own contributions to globalization. :-)