Dominique's Tropical Latitudes

One of America's most innovative chefs delves into a lesser-known aspect of global cuisine: the effect of crossing cultures, and therefore cuisines, in the world's tropical belt. Nearly all major European and Asian cultures have had adventures (and misadventures) in the tropics for more than a thousand years, leaving behind an exotic, tangled, and delicious web of influences. Once thought to be the simple home of the pineapple or coconut, the tropics from the Caribbean to Latin America to India to Vietnam are now understood to be one of the most fascinating culinary regions imaginable.