A journey within a journey. This is how I like to tell the story of New York. That’s how I also tell it to myself during my long walks, guided by a fervent curiosity, that lead me each day to read a faded plaque on a wall, to follow an unfamiliar scent, and to open doors to small slices of the world. New York is an inexhaustible source of stories, American – sure! – but also Chinese, French, Senegalese, Puerto Rican, Indonesian and of course … Italian! Stories, indeed, that from every corner of the earth find themselves sharing one city. Stories that end up mingling in the unmistakable flavor of the New York melting pot!
To arrive at a definition of this concept, it is necessary to step back through the migratory flows that have marked these streets since the very creation of the city. Founded in 1624 by the Dutch as Nieuw Amsterdam, New York came under British control in 1664. From the beginning, it was a strategic port and commercial crossroads that attracted merchants and settlers of diverse origins. In the nineteenth century, waves of European immigrants-including Irish, Italians, Germans, and Eastern European Jews-arrived at Ellis Island, contributing to the city’s cultural mosaic. In the twentieth century, new African American, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Dominican, and later Asian, Caribbean, and Latino communities redefined the social fabric. Today, New York City is a multicultural metropolis with more than 180 nationalities, neighborhoods with strong immigrant roots, and more than 200 languages spoken.
Each migratory flow that has carried its cultural baggage beyond Lady Liberty’s solemn gaze has poured collective histories, traditions, eating habits and religions onto American soil. Thus were born communities that have evolved over time but have always kept the heart of their origin intact with the pride of those who defend their land when they see it from afar. This is the point that unites the migrant of the 1800s and the expat of the 2000s, different in definition on the vocabulary and in the technologies available to take the big leap, but similar in a certain degree of nostalgia. Confirmation comes from cinema and literature: films like Once Upon a Time in New York (2013) and novels like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (B. Smith, 1943) are just a few examples of these dynamics in different contexts. And aren’t we, Italians in New York, late-generation immigrants, also finding solace and support in our circle of fellow countrymen’s contacts or over a professionally made pizza?
Food itself plays a key role in the migrant’s attempt to recreate a secure base in the new land. Ingredients, recipes and culinary rituals are not just nourishment, but a bridge between past and present, a link to roots and a cultural expression. Even iconic American dishes, such as hamburgers and pretzels, are the fruit of early European migration. Flavors, spices and scents evoke instant memories, telling a lived story and connecting distant spaces and times. I cannot fail to mention at this point one of my favorite books, Café Babylon (Marsha Mehran, 2005): the story of three sisters who flee the revolution in Iran and take refuge in a small village on the Irish coast, where they open a Persian restaurant. Through their recipes they face mistrust and overcome resistance from the local community.
Breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner in New York can cross five continents without needing to take a plane, and often not even a subway! A Yemeni café has opened near my home, telling of the strong connection between Yemen and coffee, for which it claims world export primacy. A ten-minute walk south, the scent of Indian spices invades Curry Hill on Lexington Avenue. Here a pistachio barfi will give us just the right energy! For lunch we can choose from Indonesia, China and Korea, while for snack we stop in Italy. Dinner? I love to end with a sushi omakase at one of the many Japanese restaurants in Midtown! This gastronomic journey is not only a treat for the palate, but a tale made of intertwining stories, cultures and traditions, giving us the opportunity to discover new worlds and share our own.
But not by bread alone lives a culture! Nuclei born far from the homeland soon organize around the shared languages of speech and food, but the need for belonging soon embraces other aspects of traditions as well. Almost every weekend parades and national festivals color the city streets to the sounds of music and folklore. Attending these festivals is like opening windows to ever-new worlds that the whole city observes. Some events have become must-sees for New Yorkers, who parade and toast on St. Patrick’s Day, throw confetti in front of dragons for Lunar New Year’s Eve in Chinatown, and enjoy Italian specialties during St. Gennaro’s Day in Little Italy.
As an avid reader, I love to get lost in the city’s bookstores and have a special taste for discovering those that are exotic to my eyes. The Japanese Kinokuniya where an entire floor is devoted to manga, Koryo books the heart of Manhattan’s Korean community, St-Petersburg Books overlooking the Brighton Beach waterfront where matrioskas appear among the Cyrillic texts. I also mention “our” wonderful Rizzoli that boasts a whole section of latest releases in Italian, but you certainly don’t feel alien here!
Emigration, however, is often more about obstacles than easy times, and locking oneself away in one’s own community also answers a need for protection. Those interested in the subject can visit the Museum of Chinese in America in SoHo, where a $10 donation provides access to small, well-curated rooms chronicling nearly two centuries of Chinese immigration to the United States. A collection of period images and videos illustrates the difficulties of integration, showing how the Chinese had to adapt to American stereotypes in order to be accepted, only to recover their cultural identity over time.
Authentic stories from around the world can be discovered in the dense programs of the cultural institutes of the different countries, which often work in collaboration with Consulates, and offer free meetings open to all. Photo exhibitions, book presentations, lectures and commemorations of historical figures or events are all pieces that bring the excellence of a world to the world and, in particular, to New York!
“Around the World in New York” is a new column from The Newyorker that takes you on a journey to discover flavors, cultures and traditions from every corner of the planet… without ever leaving the city! What will be our first destination? Don’t miss it in the next issue!
The article New York is a trip! comes from TheNewyorker.
