There has been a surge in Latin restaurants in the US in the past 15 years. I'm interested in figuring out why.
Partially due to recent waves of Latin immigrants, a fetishism for fusion cuisine, and the rise of celebrity chefs like Rick Bayless and Bobby Flay, Latin American cuisine has become increasingly popular in the United States (and possibly other parts of the world as well).
In the upcoming weeks I will be interviewing Latin American chefs in the United States, researching Latin American restaurants, and trying to get to the bottom of our love of this type of food.
There currently is a perception (a conclusion I’ve come to after a not-so-extensive survey of my friends and family) that Mexican restaurants are greasy taco stands. The most common: Taco Bell.
But many city neighborhoods have a wide variety of Latin American restaurants offering a wide array of different types of foods. In my neighborhood at home, for example, there is a Puerto Rican, Brazilian, Jamaican, and Mexican restaurant all within the same block.
I’ve also seen an increase in the number of Latin items on menus in many different types of restaurants. I’m want to know where this trend came from, what it is like now, and where it is going.
Some of the questions I have in my mind are:
1) How popular is Latin American food? How can I quantify this?
2) What are some of the Latin American cuisine centers in the United States?
3) What has led to the increase of Latin American cuisine?
4) How does a chef change recipes for palates in a more Westernized nation?
Post a discussion and share your thoughts on who I should be talking to, where I should visit, what questions I should be asking, and where your favorite taco stand is.
