I'm actually really interested in seeing what effect the war would have on the immigrant communities in the various metropoles, like the Indians and Malê in London and the Senegalese in Paris. What is cuisine like? Will we see more of these people involved in the métropole governments? What about film? The war will profoundly affect the French film industry, as it did OTL....what types of film would develop? It's a nascent industry right now, so it would be hella cool, for sure.
Patience, my child; there will be some homefront scenes involving them very soon.
They're certainly going to stay politically involved, like any immigrant community. The Africans in France will be more influential in the short term simply because there are more of them; there's already a majority-African arrondissement in Paris, and the Senegalese (who are the first Africans to arrive and thus the community leaders) are active in municipal politics there and in Marseilles. There are fewer Africans in the UK, but they punch somewhat above their weight due to their involvement in the trade union movement, and one of the postwar plots as currently planned will involve them flexing their political muscles.
Food: France will see, and has indeed already seen, the mainstreaming of a Franco-Senegalese cuisine strikingly similar to Senegalese food of OTL (which has considerable French influence). Jollof rice, yassa chicken and dibi are all common fare in Paris neighborhood restaurants. If you're ever in NYC, go to Africa Kine on West 116th Street and you'll get exactly the kind of food that TTL's Parisians have available.
There has also been some immigration from Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and the Congo, which is not yet as influential but is also starting to leave a mark on local cuisine, with leafy stews, attiéké (grated cassava - it's very good) and regional specialties like kedjenou chicken. At some point during the early twentieth century, all this will start to combine into a Franco-African fusion and also will be reinterpreted as haute cuisine.
In the UK, the Malê - who by now are a cultural rather than an ethnic group, including many people who aren't descended from the original Brazilian freedmen - will bring influences from two places. The first is Brazil, and specifically Bahia - there are feijoada joints in Chatham and the East End of London by now, along with traditional foods like fried bean paste mixed with fish or vegetables. The second is *Nigeria, which means pepper on nearly everything, widespread use of groundnuts (peanuts), and starchy mushes like fufu (mashed cassava or yam) or egusi (melon seeds) which are typically served with soup. I've had both in Nigeria and they're excellent if you don't mind some heat.
Egusi with leaves and chicken
Fufu with groundnut soup and goat
here will, of course, have to be considerable substitution of ingredients, because imported African staples will be expensive. They'll use seeds from temperate melons like canteloupe in place of egusi, and they'll make "fufu" with spiced local cereals. A neighborhood place in the African part of Chatham might serve wheat cereal or oatmeal, heated up with spices and cooked to a thicker consistency than the British would prefer (so that it can be picked up and dipped in the soup) and served with a thick peanut soup and chicken or beef.
Unfortunately, palm wine won't translate, both because it spoils too quickly to be imported and because most of the Africans in the UK are Muslim.
Another field where Africa (and India) will have an impact is fashion. I've mentioned this on occasion - African prints or sari-inspired designs being in style one year, or society women wearing turbans in place of hats. That sort of thing comes and goes - West African patterns could be in one year, out the next - but the gele (West African patterned head-scarf) will become a permanent part of European women's fashion, to be worn as an option in any place where a hat would be appropriate. As time goes by and more Africans join the Paris fashion houses, patterns inspired by their fabrics will also find a more permanent place.
Film: As you say, it's an embryonic industry now, and it's been interrupted by the war, but the roots are certainly there and it will take off afterward. I'm not sure the inventors of moving pictures in TTL will have a name as appropriate as Lumière, but film industries will develop in France and Britain as well as the German-speaking world and the United States. In France, where West African stories are already part of the literary tradition, I'd expect them to find their way into movies - often in a somewhat patronizing way, like early films of Arabian sheiks in OTL, but also with more sophistication where the filmmaker is African or has direct experience with Africa. A few of these movies may feature in the 1900-10 update cycle.
Finally, and on a radically different subject, there are only about eight hours left to vote in
the Superlatives. It was all tied up yesterday morning, after which Malê Rising fell behind again by three, but it's now back to a one-vote margin with The Bloody Man ahead 72-71. One vote ties it up, which I think might be the most satisfying conclusion to all this - EdT deserves every vote he has, and I'd be very happy to share the laurels.
