Latino Spice.

• Author: BRENNA, SUSAN
• Position: Hispanic influence on popular culture - Includes quiz - Brief Article

AMERICAN CULTURE ADOPTS A LATIN FLAIR

Novelists such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Sandra Cisneros have become fixtures on high school and college reading lists, bringing Spanish-speaking characters into the American literary imagination. Colorful murals decorating the sides of buildings in U.S. cities were influenced by Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera and Jose Orozco. And musicians from a host of Latin American countries have long been making their voices heard in the U.S. (see timeline below).

But it took a pop culture breakthrough--the electrifying performance at last year's Grammy Awards by Puerto Rican-born Ricky Martin--to put a spotlight on one of the greatest megatrends in our national life: the Latinization of American culture.

From food to music to fashion, Latinos have done more than add their influences to the mix. They're redefining what's uniquely American--like ballpark nachos, which no more resemble the authentic cuisine of Mexico than pizza does Neapolitan food.

The merging has gone more smoothly in some cultural circles than in others. In the world of food, salsa outsold ketchup as the nation's number-one condiment in 1992. We're scooping Haagen-Dazs dulce de leche on our apple pie, and in grocery store produce aisles, tomatillos are as common as bean sprouts.

Even if Ricky turns out to be a one-hit wonder, other members of the rising-star club insure that there will be Latino voices in the land: Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Colombian rocker Shakira, and Mexico City-based band Molotov are all gaining popularity.

In fashion, Narcisco Rodriguez attracted fans of all ages with his design of the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's sleek wedding gown. And check out fall's hot accessory: ponchos.

The talk of Broadway last year was John Leguizamo, author and one-man performer of Freak, his sad-hilarious account of growing up in a Spanish-speaking section of New York City. Marc Anthony became a star in the Broadway play Capeman, even among critics and fans who'd never heard his salsa recordings (and despite the fact that the play was a flop).

Starring roles in film and on English-language TV are still few and far between, however, for Latino actors and actresses. The first Mexican-American movie queen since before the Second World War, Salma Hayek, had the bitter disappointment of seeing the female lead in Zorro--a Latina character--go to an actress from Wales (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

Still, Latino influence...