Thanks to cell phones, the Internet and low airfares, the world is smaller than ever. We can message a friend in Bangkok at any hour, order vegetable seeds direct from Italy, or hop on a plane to Shanghai when the sale fares make it irresistible.

What's more, our communities have become virtual United Nations with (depending on where you live) pockets of Vietnamese, Chinese, Haitians, Cubans, Indians, Pakistanis and Salvadoreans, and probably some of each. These immigrants open restaurants and markets and begin growing the fruits and vegetables they remember from home. The rest of us go along for the ride, learning to eat Cambodian Banana Blossom Salad with Pummelo or Indian Lemon Noodles.

With this growing global awareness, Americans have begun to see other countries not as monolithic but as multicultural. We recognize that Mexico has multiple regions with distinctive cuisines, that Oaxaca, the Yucatàn and Sonora have culinary signatures as unique and diverse as those of New Orleans, Seattle and Santa Fe. Who wants Italian food when you can have the specialties of Campania, Puglia or Emilia-Romagna?

Paradoxically, as the planet shrinks, our culinary horizons expand. We realize how interconnected we are with others, and we want to taste other cultures' dishes at their most authentic and uncompromised.

Recipe:

Banana Blossom Salad

Try This: Lemonade is lovely, but we've been
there before. Refresh your beverage program
with Limeade: fresh lime juice, sugar syrup,
sparkling water, ice. Mix it in the bar or let guests
mix to taste. Limeade is a tropical thirst-quencher
popular wherever limes rule.