> Why would somebody's hair/eye color matter when it comes to their culinary preferences?

It's often cultural guilt, in my experience. The most non-Indian person often feels compelled to be the loudest voice in some sort of over-compensation for acceptance amongst those he seeks validation from. Food is seriously the most political thing in existence,.

Also, I don't think St. Louis, where he was from, was exactly a beacon for Indian cuisine, either.

I've seen it enough times to see through it.

Then again all my German and Austrian friends loved Indian food and had all traveled there at one point, most were vegan and vegetarian which kind makes sense, but still was kind of repetitive in theme.