Leo Benedictus spent monthsinterviewing the immigrant communitiesthat give the city of London its vitalityand, more importantly, its food!New York and Toronto may think they are morecosmopolitan, but London in the 21st century iscertainly the most diverse city ever. This is one of thereasons why it was chosen to host the 2012 OlympicGames. More than 300 languages are spoken by thepeople of London, and it has 50 nationalities withpopulations of more than 10,000.Why is this? Firstly, London is a place of business.Londoners have the fewest bank holidays in Europeand work the longest hours. People come for jobs andmoney. But that is not why they stay. Language is onereason. Fluency in English is a great gift for theirchildren. Another surprising reason is the character ofthe London people. They are not as friendly as someother nationalities. But this has advantages – peopleleave you alone, and you are free to live your own life.Finally, the most delicious reason is – food. You canhave dinner in more than 70 different nationalities ofrestaurant any night of the week. Londoners’enthusiasm for foreign food creates thousands of jobsfor new communities.All Londoners, old and new, have the same principles.They work hard, love their children, and move out ofthe city centre as soon as they can afford it!1 Posh Daddy from NigeriaPosh Daddy is the manager of the Big Choice Barber’s onPeckham High Street. It is a West Indian and Africanhairdresser’s. These two black communities haven’t alwaysgot on well together. ‘When I first came here, we justwanted to be accepted by the West Indian community, butthey weren’t very friendly,’ he says. ‘Now it is gettingbetter. These days most of my West Indian brothers in thebarber’s like eating African food like me, pepper soup andkuku paka, which is chicken with coconut – very hotand spicy.’2 Staff in the kitchen of the Asadal
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