New York | Culinary world tour in Queens

(New York) From Colombian arepa to Tibetan soups, traveling the world is possible in Queens, New York. This borough, the last stop for thousands of immigrants, offers a culinary journey without borders to travelers and residents of the Big Apple.

Queens, one of New York’s five major neighborhoods, “has the most diverse population in the country, with more than 100 different origins” and as many cuisines, Robert Sietsema, food critic for the online magazine, told AFP. Eater.com.

Just take line 7 of the metro, which crosses this largest district of the city, to immerse yourself in a festival of flavors, aromas, textures and exotic products.

Here, in this “World’s Borough” — one of Queens’ nicknames — between the East River and Long Island, Southeast Asian, Egyptian and Yemeni restaurants coexist with unmissable Mexican cuisine and Colombian arepas. Without forgetting the Spanish paella, the Greek moussaka or the “entraña”, this tasty meat steak, typical in Uruguay and Argentina.

And despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the list is growing. In February, according to Eater.com, four new restaurants will open: a Turkish, a Hong Kong, a Singaporean and an Italian.

Roadmap

In Queens, the culinary landscape is changing, like its population of nearly 2.5 million inhabitants out of nearly nine million in New York.

“Tibetans and Nepalese have recently arrived in Jackson Heights, for example”, one of the most dynamic neighborhoods in the district, explains Robert Sietsema.

The walker can be surprised, according to the windows and the flavors. But if you are looking to travel for good, it is better to give yourself a roadmap, like Andy Doro, influencer on Instagram and founder of the site everycountryfoodnyc.com.

In 2015, he set out to travel all over the world through cuisine, without leaving New York. He admits to being “stuck in 145” countries. “These are also places like Hong Kong or Macau, or territories that not everyone considers countries, like Tibet,” he concedes.

“It was easy until 100-110. Now I have to keep my eyes peeled for a (new) place to show up,” he smiles, before showing AFP some of his favorite finds.

Mix of flavors

The route begins at Diversity Plaza in the heart of Jackson Heights, which in the second half of the last century was home to the Colombian diaspora. Today, the neighborhood is home to “increasingly diverse, middle-class whites,” although it is also “kind of the epicenter of many South Asian and Himalayan countries. “, like Bhutan and Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India or Burma, lists Andy Doro.

First stop in a tiny establishment at the entrance of a metro station. At Yun Café & Asian Mart, Yun Naing, a 25-year-old Myanmar woman who recently arrived in New York, offers specialties from her country, such as salads and soups, and sells the essential ingredients to prepare them. “We are known for serving authentic Burmese food, so we prefer to import the products that make it special,” thanks to a “blend of bitter, spicy and salty flavors,” she explains.

Not far from there, the cold invites you to have a hot soup made from yak cheese or a salted butter tea in the Nepali Bhanchha Ghar restaurant.

Arepas, an institution

The 37^and street is a culinary hotspot in Jackson Heights. Here, Arepa Lady stands as a classic of this Colombian specialty made from cornbread. The restaurant was founded by Maria Cano, who left her hometown of Medellín to flee the violence of drug traffickers.

Manager Brandon Klinger says Queens’ diversity helps its restaurants succeed, even though with COVID-19, “business has slowed down a lot.”

Further east, Chinatown Flushing, which locals say has surpassed Manhattan’s legendary Chinatown in size, is a treasure trove of places to sample a specialty from a region of China or Korea, where to buy the best ingredients.

Astoria, across from Manhattan, once a destination for Greek immigrants and European Jews and now a residential area for New Yorkers seeking less astronomical prices, is home to Egyptian and Brazilian communities; in Woodside, there is the Filipino community; and in Ridgewood, immigrants from Balkan countries, Irish and Puerto Ricans. Each district of Queens offering a cultural mosaic… and culinary.