Special Foods

A restaurant in Chinatown, in New York City, New York

Most people want to eat the foods they are used to. However, immigrants cannot always find familiar foods. So, some open small ethnic grocery stores or restaurants. When enough immigrants from one country move into an area, large ethnic food shops open. These stores often attract customers from far away. They buy foods they remember from their homelands.

Immigrants may avoid certain foods for religious reasons. Many Muslims, for example, will eat only food that is considered hallal, an Arabic word meaning “permitted.” Meat must be prepared a certain way to make it hallal. Many Muslim immigrants could not find stores that sold hallal meat. So, they opened hallal markets in places where they settled.

Almost every immigrant community has its own restaurants. They serve familiar food. Other people enjoy eating there, too. They like to share some of the tasty traditions of the immigrant group.

Immigrant families often prepare traditional meals at home. They pass on cultural traditions from one generation to the next.