Different ubiquitous ethnic restaurants in the US

I live in a small city (town really) that is 97.66% white, in a state that is mostly Irish, English and French/French-Canadian, however in my town there are 12 pizza places and two sit down Italian restaurants, all of which are owned by Italian-Americans, also there are 6 Chinese food places all of which are run by Chinese people (as in from China or Taiwan) these facts have been true of every where I've been, there will always be pizza and Chinese food, what POD could get us different ubiquitous ethnic restaurants in the US? say eastern European food being found in every small town in America or French food (or anything else)
 
Anglo and French culture are too intertwined to create a coherent separate identity. I can't really see French restaurants becoming a distinguishable thing, outside of really high-end places.

Edit: Ah, I see that you live in Jew Hampshire. Is there much of a diversity of more obscure places, like Armernian, or Turkish, or Greek? Alternatively, just about everywhere you go will have Japanese and Mexican, and most urban areas have a few Thai places.
 
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Edit: Ah, I see that you live in Jew Hampshire. Is there much of a diversity of more obscure places, like Armernian, or Turkish, or Greek? Alternatively, just about everywhere you go will have Japanese and Mexican, and most urban areas have a few Thai places.

there is one Thai place and one kind of Mexican place. the rest no
 

Warsie

Banned
More Eastern European immigration that is not stopped by the 'red scare' (the US treats those immigrants as anti-communists fleeing communism instead)
 
there is one Thai place and one kind of Mexican place. the rest no
Yeah, in Derry NH there's a Mexican place and a Thai place next to eachother, and like a dozen Chinese places. I've been to three or four but I keep seeing new ones all over the place. Oh, and Greek restaurants are surprisingly common in NH. In the town I live in, there's only two restaurants, one breakfast place hardly deserving of the title and a Greek restaurant. And in another town I used to live in there were a number of Greek takeout restaurants as well. As for stuff like Turkish or Armenian, not so much. No Japanese places anywhere near I'm aware of either.

And the main reason I don't think there are a lot of Eastern European restaurants is that there's just no market for them. A lot of people, myself included, don't really think Eastern Europe when thinking of good food. The only Russian food I've had was rather bad, and I don't think it was the cook's fault.
 
Where I live, there have to be at least 10 Mexican restaurants, probably more that I haven't even been to. Every town near mine also has Mexican restaurants, and it seems to be the case for many places near where I live (I live in the not-to-deep South)
 
Well you pretty clearly have to change immigration patterns. The easiest way to do this is to have bad things happen to the countries of origin. For example, suppose Japan is invaded and wrecked in WW2; there would likely be many more immigrants to the US and the rest of the world and they would bring their cuisine with them. Another alternative is to screw with other immigrant destinations. India, Jamaica and other ex-British states send plenty of immigrants to Britain; turn Britain into a basket case and they will pick alternate destinations.
 
Well, Chicago certainly is not lacking in choices...

Indian restaurants (or Americanized Indian food) could be more popular

Hawaiian fads have come and gone throughout US history, perhaps a Hawaiian restaurant could have more staying power

That is all I got right now...
 
I don't really see how Japanese takes off beyond the coasts given the cost of shipping fish until fairly recently. On the other hand, I honestly can't see why more Egyptian and Levantine food hasn't taken off. Falafel and kibbeh would fit nicely into the diner food/food you can put in a basket model(and are fried to boot), and kebabs would work well with our grilling culture and could easily be modified into sandwich dishes.
 

Warsie

Banned
And the main reason I don't think there are a lot of Eastern European restaurants is that there's just no market for them. A lot of people, myself included, don't really think Eastern Europe when thinking of good food. The only Russian food I've had was rather bad, and I don't think it was the cook's fault.

lol. I remember some DJs talking about Russian food sucking badly or something. I think they complained about greasiness, and they were 'soul food' eaters so you KNOW it must've been greasy for them.

For example, suppose Japan is invaded and wrecked in WW2; there would likely be many more immigrants to the US and the rest of the world and they would bring their cuisine with them.

Why would they immigrate to the country that destroyed them as a nation en masse?

Indian restaurants (or Americanized Indian food) could be more popular

It would have to be more....palatable. Aka either changes in the tastes of people to enjoy spicy stuff, or the indians tone down the spicyness in their food. And Indians would have to move out of Devon St :p
 
You just live in a bad place black angel. Where I come from there's pretty much every ethnic restaurant under the sun.
 
More Eastern European immigration that is not stopped by the 'red scare' (the US treats those immigrants as anti-communists fleeing communism instead)

Uh... that's how a lot of them were treated, unless you're talking about the First Red Scare era. Still, groups like the Poles formed huge communities in the US during the communist era, there's a ton of former Soviet bloc expats over here.
 

NothingNow

Banned
Greek owned diners end up serving Greek food to an adoring american public.

Oh fuck yes, Tarpon Springs writ large across the nation.

It would have to be more....palatable. Aka either changes in the tastes of people to enjoy spicy stuff, or the indians tone down the spicyness in their food. And Indians would have to move out of Devon St :p
It's not that bad, it's just that you guys aren't used to it. Like Thai or Cajun food.

You just live in a bad place black angel. Where I come from there's pretty much every ethnic restaurant under the sun.
Same here, fuck, there are something like four chinese places, a Malaysian place, three Thai places, a Pub, a french place, more Greek, Cuban, and good Fish places then you can count. Oh, and a few French, Mexican, Arab and Italian places, but they're the odd ones.
Really, it must suck to live in less diverse places.
 

Warsie

Banned
You just live in a bad place black angel. Where I come from there's pretty much every ethnic restaurant under the sun.

The guy who I talk to a lot who grew up in W. Kentucky also saw the same, the main restaurants he saw were chinese and mexican. He grew up in a small town in Tennessee.

Uh... that's how a lot of them were treated, unless you're talking about the First Red Scare era. Still, groups like the Poles formed huge communities in the US during the communist era, there's a ton of former Soviet bloc expats over here.

AFAIK immigration was stopped due to nativist conflation of immigrants and communists in the USA post-WWI. If they didnt put in those quotas and welcomed the white Russians into the USA things would be different.
 
The guy who I talk to a lot who grew up in W. Kentucky also saw the same, the main restaurants he saw were chinese and mexican. He grew up in a small town in Tennessee.



AFAIK immigration was stopped due to nativist conflation of immigrants and communists in the USA post-WWI. If they didnt put in those quotas and welcomed the white Russians into the USA things would be different.

No that was a different era of immigration... there was a huge wave of E. Europeans in the 80s as the Soviet bloc was falling apart... White Russians such as Cossacks and such are a different story.
 
Anglo and French culture are too intertwined to create a coherent separate identity. I can't really see French restaurants becoming a distinguishable thing, outside of really high-end places.

Edit: Ah, I see that you live in Jew Hampshire. Is there much of a diversity of more obscure places, like Armernian, or Turkish, or Greek? Alternatively, just about everywhere you go will have Japanese and Mexican, and most urban areas have a few Thai places.

Nice, but.........I'd be careful about the 'Jew' references, ok? Don't want to see someone banned over any misunderstandings now. ;)
 

Warsie

Banned
Nice, but.........I'd be careful about the 'Jew' references, ok? Don't want to see someone banned over any misunderstandings now. ;)

think that was a typo n is right by j for qwerty keyboard :p

It's not that bad, it's just that you guys aren't used to it. Like Thai or Cajun food.

My grandmother ate chitlings, possums and dumplings while growing up in Mississippi and she doesn't like them. I dont think 'being used to it' necessarily makes one more open to putting it in your mouth ;)

I guess that was uncalled for. I mean, it's not like we're talking about Jew Jersey.

OR Jew York City.
 
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