Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Ethnic Composition of Berlin

Throughout our adventure on May 18th, we were able to travel to areas within the city that have different ethnicity groups than what we've seen so far.  Northwest of Tiergarten lies an area known as Moabit.  Within this area there is a neighbourhood that appears to have a large Middle Eastern population, including Turkish and Arab.  Not only were there a greater number of restaurants that pertained to either Turkish or Arab cuisine, but other ethnic restaurants existed in this area as well. Not only that, but there were also different shops and grocery stores that catered to these populations too.  For example, one of the markets offered 100% Halal as an option for those who require this type of food.

East Indian Restaurant (front view)

East Indian Restaurant (side view)

Building with other ethnic food.

Grocery store that offered 100% Halal as an option.

Even though this particular area has a higher percentage of ethnically different population than other areas in Berlin, there is a fairly large Turkish population spread out throughout the city as well.  We were able to stop off at a restaurant in Kleiner Tiergarten to try some Turkish food for lunch, which was delicious!

Turkish cuisine from Am Park Cafe.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like that you included our lunch in this discussion. I would never have guessed that the restaurant was Turkish from the outside though but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention.
Who do you think these ethnic resturants attract? Tourists, the total local population, mainly those ethnic groups?

Unknown said...

I find the Moabit district very interesting due to the ethnic diversity that exists. Could you think of an area in Regina that compares to Moabit in terms of cultural ethnicity or do you think such an area even exists in Regina?

Emily Pletz said...

Why do you think there is such a high influx of Middle Eastern people? Especially in this area?

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Unknown said...
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Alyssa Klein said...

Jennifer, I think to some extent these areas may cater to both tourists and local population, though perhaps with more of an emphasis on the tourists in the area. Julia (I think, correct me if I'm wrong!) made mention to look not only at the restaurants in the area necessarily, but also the other shops and stores nearby in order to get a more accurate understanding of the ethnic composition of the area. For this reason, while there may be a higher instance of Turkish food among many others in the area, it was still important to keep in mind what other types of shops are there as well. It is interesting traveling around Berlin in general though and seeing how many Turkish donair shops there are, even though there may not necessarily be a higher relative Turkish population in those specific areas. Perhaps Berliners really quite enjoy that cuisine?

Brooklyn, I think it's hard to say which areas in Regina have higher ethnic populations than others simply due to the size of the city itself. Personally, I'm not that knowledgable about where these populations may exist in the city, and it's especially hard to tell based on restaurants, specialty food stores or other ethnic shops because they seem to be pretty evenly dispersed throughout the city in general. But thank you Keir for your response, I did not notice that neighbourhood in particular before!

Anonymous said...

Alyssa I think you are quite right. I think there is a general enjoyment of ethnic food, and not just in Berlin. I found the whole excerise quite interesting because living in Regina I have never assumed that a certain resturants or stores could indicate a higher ethinc population in that area, but in some cases it can be a very basic hint.