Hi Irina, it depends a lot on where a family settles. When my family moved to the US from Romania, their were not many other Romanians where they lived, and they moved when it was still communist so there wasn't exactly free trade of goods. They made a lot of their own food - my grandma made her own egg noodles, my parents still ferment and pickle a lot of their own vegetables, etc. But eventually more Romanians came to the US they settled in or near cities and formed their own communities. They could go to shops of other established immigrant communities too - Chicago has a neighborhood called Ukrainian Village, their are lots of Eastern European Jewish people, Russians, etc. where my family was able to find ingredients they were used to cooking with. I'm starting to see some Eastern European brands get wider national distribution too, and globalization has had a huge impact between now and the 1970s where it's easier to find all sorts of information and products.
People's food tastes definitely change as they immigrate! My family had almost no experience with any other food except European food when they came to the US. Now both my parents love Indian and Korean food, my mom loves Thai but my dad doesn't, my dad loves Japanese food but my mom refuses to eat raw fish...and my siblings and I were all born in the US, we eat any type of food. My family went from serving only traditional Romanian food at every holiday (even American holidays like Thanksgiving) to now serving all the American Thanksgiving foods (and some Romanian classics). As Wendy said, some countries are not as diverse. I have a friend who moved to Seoul and he said the city has an "international district" where every other culture is lumped into the same neighborhood, and everywhere else is Korean. They're not hostile to immigrants, but the culture is just more homogenous.
I think that it depends on the country they are migrating to. Some countries are monocultural and do not appeal to or accept immigrants. Therefore it would probably not have a diverse selection of imported food. I am very fortunate to live in a large Canadian city where everyone is an immigrant and we celebrate it. We have neighbourhoods nicknamed “Japantown, Chinatown, Little Italy, Little India, Philippinetown, Greek Village, etc... I feel so blessed that I can find ingredients for anything that I want to cook. I hope that you are just as fortunate!
Immigrants' reaction to food of a new country varies...by age, personality, general openness to change. Some adopt almost all of the new country's foods, some reject almost all, many fall somewhere in between. Same with their children and grandchildren. One of the lovely stories about America is how immigrants gradually adopt Thanksgiving as a holiday but/and make mains and sides from their own cultures...instead of or along side the turkey, stuffing, cranberries, etc. Lots of stories of children of immigrants packing home-made foods that was called smelly or strange, only to have those foods become fashionable restaurant fare 15 or 20 years later.
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People's food tastes definitely change as they immigrate! My family had almost no experience with any other food except European food when they came to the US. Now both my parents love Indian and Korean food, my mom loves Thai but my dad doesn't, my dad loves Japanese food but my mom refuses to eat raw fish...and my siblings and I were all born in the US, we eat any type of food. My family went from serving only traditional Romanian food at every holiday (even American holidays like Thanksgiving) to now serving all the American Thanksgiving foods (and some Romanian classics). As Wendy said, some countries are not as diverse. I have a friend who moved to Seoul and he said the city has an "international district" where every other culture is lumped into the same neighborhood, and everywhere else is Korean. They're not hostile to immigrants, but the culture is just more homogenous.
I think that it depends on the country they are migrating to. Some countries are monocultural and do not appeal to or accept immigrants. Therefore it would probably not have a diverse selection of imported food.
I am very fortunate to live in a large Canadian city where everyone is an immigrant and we celebrate it. We have neighbourhoods nicknamed “Japantown, Chinatown, Little Italy, Little India, Philippinetown, Greek Village, etc... I feel so blessed that I can find ingredients for anything that I want to cook. I hope that you are just as fortunate!
It is much easier to plan and cook meals when all family members have similar food preferences.
Some adopt almost all of the new country's foods, some reject almost all, many fall somewhere in between.
Same with their children and grandchildren.
One of the lovely stories about America is how immigrants gradually adopt Thanksgiving as a holiday but/and make mains and sides from their own cultures...instead of or along side the turkey, stuffing, cranberries, etc.
Lots of stories of children of immigrants packing home-made foods that was called smelly or strange, only to have those foods become fashionable restaurant fare 15 or 20 years later.