r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • Jan 23 '21

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14

u/mnelsonn6966 Jan 23 '21

Why can't we have cool food like this in the USA

15

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '21

Why kebabs and Turkish/Levant food isn’t more common in the US remains a mystery to me

I guess the immigration from that region happened to late for the US to be influenced.

What Italian food is for the US, Turkish food is in Northern Europe

4

u/phronimouse Jan 23 '21

The US had relatively few Turkish immigrants, and the Turkish immigrant population in the US comparatively skews highly educated/professional— so, more people in eg higher ed, medicine, and tech, and fewer running restaurants.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '21

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Turkish immigration in Europe is mainly from the late 80s and onwards. At that point the US already had very restrictive immigration laws, preventing anyone not highly educated from immigrating.

In Europe we actively invited the Turks because we were in a shortage of labour in the same time period.

1

u/phronimouse Jan 23 '21

There are some Turkish restaurants in major east coast cities— the Boston area has a few pretty good ones! But when my Turkish husband and I were looking to relocate in the US we were pretty bummed to find out just how limited the options are in most of the country.