Peruvians in the New York Metro Area
Peruvians in the New York Metro Area QUICK FACTS: ALL PEOPLES INITIATI VE LAST UPDATED: 10/2008 Place of Origin: Peru (primarily Lima) “Have you ever eaten Peruvian food?” a Peruvian man living in Paterson, New Jersey, asked, “It is the best in the world. The best in the world! The only food that can compare Location in Metro New is French. I am telling you, they say that French cuisine is good, but Peruvian is the best York: in the world!” How many casual diners would list Peruvian food among their top ten fa- New Jersey (Paterson, vorite ethnic cuisines? Nevertheless, the seemingly hyperbolic claims of this Peruvian Lake View, Riverside, man are not unfounded. For the gastronomically informed, Peruvian food is indeed con- Passaic, Newark, Union sidered in the top tier of its class.1 With influences from the Inca, Spanish, African City, Orange); Queens (Corona, Jackson slaves, and immigrants from China, Japan, and Italy, Peruvians mastered the art of fu- Heights, Elmhurst); West- sion cuisine long before it was featured in haute cuisine restaurants across Metro New chester (White Plains); York. Today, Peruvian food is being recognized even more around the city, as restau- Nassau (Glen Cove) rants are frequently opened by constituents of the most concentrated Peruvian popula- tion outside of Peru. Community estimates place their Population in Metro New population around 200 thousand in Metro New York, York: while the 2010 American Community Survey estimates 200,000 (Community Esti- 2 mate); 168,975 (ACS 2010 around 169 thousand in the same area. Specific Origin Peru); 119,088 (ACS 2010 Born When Did They Come to New York? in Peru) At the turn of the twentieth century, Paterson, New Jer- Population in New York seyWhere had established Do They itself Live? as America’s “Silk City,” and City: had expanded its textile production to Lima, Peru.
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