Why Is The West Suddenly So Fascinated With Indian Traditions?

Remember the time when the most exciting Indian food people abroad liked was Butter Chicken? Given that it’s not even a dish created in India, it’s no surprise that it’s gained the level of popularity that it has. For years, the British have loved and enjoyed everything about Butter Chicken and since then, it’s become a staple of the Indian Mughlai repertoire, making it one of the most popular Indian dishes in the world.

In the last two years, America has been talking about using different ingredients to help with weight loss or staying healthy. The sudden fascination with coconut oil as the best way to keep your skin healthy and fresh and alive is taking over the Western world. Coconut oil has been used in cooking all over Kerala for years and it’s popular in most Malayali food. But that’s not all coconut oil is used for, we’ve been putting it in our hair to make it stronger and healthier. It’s taken the western world all this time to really understand the importance and the qualities of coconut oil.

But it doesn’t end there.

Ghee has been making an impact thanks to the Kardashian sisters. Kourtney Kardashian has a spoonful of pure ghee every day to keep herself in shape. Anything the Kardashian’s are doing automatically becomes a trend, so obviously that’s the new thing in the world.

And now we have….

Turmeric Latte

In our fair subcontinent, it’s known as haldi doodh, but in London and New York, it’s been given a much more interesting moniker – Turmeric Latte or Golden Milk.

Known for its healing properties, turmeric has been part of diet for years. Whether we’re consuming it as medication or we’re mixing it with our food, turmeric is one of those spices that we’ve had around for centuries. Most of us probably remember being forced to drink a turmeric/milk concoction (with or without sugar, depending on who was feeding it to you) to help deal with a cold or a cough. It was never a pleasant taste and it always had you retching and running for a cold glass of water to get rid of the taste instantly.

Now, cafes and coffee shops in London and New York have been serving their patrons this new drink thanks to them finally realizing the wonderful properties of turmeric. While it has a naturally bitter taste, these cafes are adding more sugar and a dash of cinnamon to minimize this bitterness, decorating it like a regular latte and serving it with cookies and the like.

Much like the chai latte which was popularized by Starbucks, the Turmeric Latte is going to become such a huge part of the American if it isn’t already.