Food and Restaurants

From The Peopling of New York City

Introduction

A falooda from Dosa Place

The central role of food within a community cannot be understated. Essential for all humans to live, food makes up a vital part of people’s lives however it is much more than just a source of nutrition. Food is an important avenue for cultures to form and evolve and it is through this expression that one finds a representation of their ethnic identity. In Jackson Heights, this expression of ethnicity is seen through the restaurants and businesses that market these ethnic foods.

Indian restaurants and businesses, like others in America, often face this problem: should foods be marketed to one’s own ethnicity or should foods target the growing diversity in a community? Sometimes marketing to a specific demographic of people is a real solution. A neighborhood like Jackson Heights is an example of such marketing. Jackson Heights has a high density of South Asians, particularly Indians and Pakistanis. Concentrating efforts to a particular ethnic group is a viable tactic. However, as time moves on, the market changes. The immigrant population diversifies and adjusts to American culture. Immigrants take up different tastes and expectations, and restaurants must adapt or lose business to this changing taste. They begin emphasizing speed, price, quantity, and consistency, whereas more traditional foods may take longer to prepare, often have small variations in each serving, and may not have comparable price and quantity.

However, not all restaurants will “Americanize”. Many owners continue advertising their particular niche, whether it is because of the continued demand for authentic ethnic food, or because of the religiously vegetarian diet which must be strictly followed. The taste of food is preserved as identity of ethnicity and some restaurants never change their foods despite the changing market. Therefore, there are now more places that sell a specific type of food such as Afghan or Nepali food whereas in previous years those may have been grouped together as “Indian” or “South Asian” food. Also the surge of immigrants from other parts of South Asia such as Bangladeshis and Tibetans have changed the taste of a neighborhood that used to only serve and demand Indian food.

Away from the marketing of food, there is another story behind its preparation. There is an increasingly diverging difference between a home cooked meal and one served at a restaurant. Even though the chefs at the restaurant are often family members, differences manage to appear. The tastes of foods in restaurants depend on the restaurant’s niche. Do they want to have quick, cheap food to serve many casual customers, or food that takes more time and dedication to prepare but also tends to make regulars? Whatever the owners decide will impact the way the recipe’s ingredients, preparation, and taste of the final product.

A breakdown of the restaurants in Jackson Heights

Delhi Palace Sweet Shop storefront

From The Peopling of New York City

Introduction

Interviews