Kuala Lampur, Aug. 18 -- Is any culture pure? And can a culture belong to a single people? All cultures intermingle and borrow from each other, after all.

This is how and why we see the Indian Ramayana myth embedded in South-east Asian culture and how we got delicious fusions - like laksa and Chinese rojak.

Even chillies which are so fundamental to Asian cuisine came to us from South America via European traders.

If most things are a product of exchange, how can anything ever be appropriated? This idea of diffusion is well accepted in anthropology.

But diffusion is not appropriation and a trip to Sephora will make this distinction clear.

Walking around the cosmetic store with my cousin, we noticed the endless coconut and coconut oil-...