(December 28, 2023) Indians are excelling across the globe, making an impact around the world. In the same way, India has cast a spell on the world in so many ways, whether it’s the thousands who gather for a group practice on International Yoga Day, or the year-long wait list for rural Tamil cuisine at the Michelin-starred Semma in Manhattan. India has found its way into the hearts of people from everywhere. Today, Global Indian takes a look at some of the foreigners who are taking Brand India global, from the local cacao bean to Bharatnatyam, and proudly call India their home.
Mai and Asuka Hatta: The Hasora project
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Mai and Asuka Hatta, Japanese twins from Chiba Prefecture, have created a unique narrative in India with their venture, Hasora. Forgoing opportunities in the US and Japan, their journey in India began with Mai’s job in an NGO in Dehradun and Asuka’s decision to join her sister. In 2016, they launched Hasora to address a gap they observed: the difficulty expats faced in finding fresh, safe Japanese vegetables. Simultaneously, they sought to improve the plight of local farmers affected by intermediary exploitation. Hasora partners with organic vegetable farmers, aiming to revolutionize the supply chain with a farm-to-table model. They also engage in the “Oishii Nippon Project,” helping farmers cultivate Japanese vegetables, thus merging cultural appreciation with agricultural innovation.
“It was my destiny; I followed my passion, my heart,” Mai says, of her deep bond with India. The name Hasora, meaning ‘green leaves under the blue sky’ in Japanese and resonating with the Hindi ‘Hasna’ (to laugh), captures the essence of their venture—promoting growth and happiness. Beyond their online platform, their Gurgaon outlet is a cultural fusion hub, offering a range of Japanese and Korean specialties alongside Indian staples. With Mai’s culinary skills and a Japanese chef, they cater to a diverse clientele, while championing sustainable farming practices and economic empowerment for local farmers.
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Viktoria Burenkova – Tandava in Kyiv
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Viktoria Burenkova, known as Vijaya Bai on stage, is a dedicated Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher in Kyiv, Ukraine. Despite the challenges of Russia’s invasion, she continues to uplift spirits through this ancient Indian dance form. For ten years, she has been a key figure at Nakshatra, a ‘National Studio’ recognized by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture.
“Our lives were steeped in classical music, dance, and yoga,” says Viktoria, reflecting her deep connection with Indian arts. She credits her guru, Ganna Smirnova Rajhans, for her Bharatanatyam journey. With Ganna’s relocation, Viktoria now leads Nakshatra, adapting performances to Ukrainian audiences.
Her classes, both online and offline, have been a source of strength during the war. Bharatanatyam is central to her life; she even sews dance costumes. Viktoria’s admiration for Indian culture runs deep, evident in her study of Hindi and Telugu. She aims to promote Bharatanatyam in Ukraine and beyond, hoping for a growing community of classical dancers and greater appreciation of the art form.
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David Belo – ‘Bean’ there, done that
David Belo
David Belo’s Naviluna, based in Mysuru, is a trailblazer as India’s first bean-to-bar chocolate house and the world’s first to solely use Indian-origin cacao. Belo, originally from South Africa, found inspiration in India’s rich cacao diversity. “The relationship between South Africa’s early beginnings, my own community, trade, food, and drink is as rich as it is deep,” he says, indicating his diverse culinary influences.
Naviluna’s approach to chocolate making is terroir-centric, aimed at highlighting the unique flavors of Indian cacao. This focus extends to their café in Mysore, situated atop their factory in a heritage bungalow, which Belo and his team spent six years restoring. The café emphasizes traditional coffee experiences, featuring classic 1950s Italian-style coffee and chocolate drinks, using premium Arabica coffee sourced from Chikmagalur.
Belo’s vision and dedication have steered Naviluna through early challenges, shaping a brand ethos centered on craftsmanship and quality. Naviluna not only crafts fine chocolates but also offers a holistic sensory experience, marrying the art of chocolate making with India’s cacao heritage.
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Karl Rock – A love story with India
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At the age of 17, Karl Rock ate canned butter chicken for the first time. “It was horrible stuff compared to what indian food really is but it blew my mind,” says Karl Rock, who is now a top tier content creator with over 2.77 million followers on his YouTube channel and over 184,000 on Instagram.
Whether it’s a traditional malpua recipe, or masala chai prepared with his own handground concoction of spices, this adventurous New Zealander can teach most Indians a thing or two about the diversity and history behind our native cuisine. That, and he also speaks fluent Hindi. He swears by the Chhole Bhature from Gopalji’s in Pitampura’s Delhi and while the owner guards the recipe closely, Karl has reverse engineered it, saying his version is ” 80 percent close to the original.”
From traditional recipes, to remote, little-known dhabas dishing up exquisite fare, remarkable places (like the meteorite crater in Maharashtra), Karl Rock does it all. And his enthusiasm is infectious, coming as it does from someone who was born more than 15,000 miles away, in a culture apparently far-removed from our own…
Mango and Basil: Marriage beyond borders
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What do Italians and Indians have in common? Quite a lot, going by Suprateek Banerjee (aka Mango) and his wife, Daniela Barone (basil), the content-creator couple behind @aamandbasil on Instagram. For starters, they “both wake up in the morning thinking about what they’re going to eat,” as Daniela puts it. Close family ties are another similarity – Suprateek was thrilled to learn that Daniela’s grandmother lives at the family home in Naples – “I was like, wow, this is just what we do. Our grandparents live with us in India as well, and we love them like crazy.”
Mango and Basil are an Instagram sensation, with 120k followers and counting, although they only opened their account in February 2023. Their aim – to bring humour into all our cultural quirks, and to bring out similarities you didn’t know exist. Basil is shocked to see Mango cooking ‘Indian pasta’ in a pressure cooker, and downing a cappuccino after lunch. At the heart of it, however, is love, as this star-crossed couple do their best to learn about the culturally rich land to which the other belongs.
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Paris Laxmi: Bridging cultures through Bharatnatyam
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Born in 1991 in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, whose full name is Myriam Sophia Lakshmi, was born into a family of Indophiles and began training in Bharatnatyam at the age of nine, there was no looking back. She came to India to train, too and and adopted ‘Laxmi’ as her stage name. It also drew her to her now husband, Pallipuram Sunil, a famous Kathak artist, whom she first watched performed at the age of seven. They became friends years later, united by their love for Indian classical dance and Paris Laxmi made India her home for good in 2012, after her marriage.
The couple run the Kalashakti School of Arts, where they teach their respective dance forms and organise performances and workshops. Their production, ‘Sangaman – Krishna Mayam’, a fusion of Kathakali and Bharatnatyam, showcasing stories and manifestations of Lord Krishna, has toured all over India, Europe and the Gulf. “So many people from foreign countries wish to learn Indian classical dance now. It is something very rich and unique that India has,” she says.
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