Leo Benedictus spent months
interviewing the immigrant communities
that give the city of London its vitality
and, more importantly, its food!
New York and Toronto may think they are more
cosmopolitan, but London in the 21st century is
certainly the most diverse city ever. This is one of the
reasons why it was chosen to host the 2012 Olympic
Games. More than 300 languages are spoken by the
people of London, and it has 50 nationalities with
populations of more than 10,000.
Why is this? Firstly, London is a place of business.
Londoners have the fewest bank holidays in Europe
and work the longest hours. People come for jobs and
money. But that is not why they stay. Language is one
reason. Fluency in English is a great gift for their
children. Another surprising reason is the character of
the London people. They are not as friendly as some
other nationalities. But this has advantages – people
leave you alone, and you are free to live your own life.
Finally, the most delicious reason is – food. You can
have dinner in more than 70 different nationalities of
restaurant any night of the week. Londoners’
enthusiasm for foreign food creates thousands of jobs
for new communities.
All Londoners, old and new, have the same principles.
They work hard, love their children, and move out of
the city centre as soon as they can afford it!
1 Posh Daddy from Nigeria
Posh Daddy is the manager of the Big Choice Barber’s on
Peckham High Street. It is a West Indian and African
hairdresser’s. These two black communities haven’t always
got on well together. ‘When I first came here, we just
wanted to be accepted by the West Indian community, but
they weren’t very friendly,’ he says. ‘Now it is getting
better. These days most of my West Indian brothers in the
barber’s like eating African food like me, pepper soup and
kuku paka, which is chicken with coconut – very hot
and spicy.’
2 Staff in the kitchen of the Asadal
‘This restaurant was a little bit of Korea brought into a very
English town,’ says Young-il Park, the manager of the
Asadal restaurant in New Malden. The Asadal is famous for
its kimchi – salty, spicy chilli peppers and vegetables. Youngil’s
father opened the Asadal in 1991 – the first Korean
restaurant in the town. Young-il was the only Korean in his
school. ‘The thing I noticed most was that people stared,’
he says. ‘Now you see a lot of Koreans here
3 The staff in the Yasar Halim Bakery
Yasar Halim, a Turkish grocer’s and baker’s, is known all over
London. It was opened in Green Lanes in 1981 by Mr Halim,
a Turkish Cypriot. At that time, no one was selling food from
his homeland. Now the shop is famous for its baklava, a sweet
cake made with nuts and honey. The shop is very busy, and
the staff working there – both Turkish and Greek Cypriots –
look like they’re having a great time together. In their
homeland of Cyprus, there are still problems between the
two communities. But in this area of London, they live
together as good neighbours.
4 Portuguese football fans in the FC Porto
Fan Club in Stockwell
‘Football is a passion for us,’ says José Antonio Costa, the
president of the Porto Fan Club which meets in Stockwell.
‘Many people come for friendship – you know, in a foreign
country, you feel more comfortable with your own people.’
Eric Santos, the owner of Santos’s café near the club, says,
‘People come for my wife’s bacalhau – salted cod, made with
potatoes and onions. Delicious!’ There is quite a big
Portuguese-speaking community here, from Portugal, Brazil
and Madeira, but they do not always stick together. ‘Everyone
looks after their own interests.’ The Portuguese and the
Madeirans, in particular, are very separate groups in London,
because Madeira wants independence from Portugal.
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