Ethnic Diversity in Berlin
When
we first arrived in Moabit looking for clues of ethnic diversity our instant
reaction was to look to the types of ethnic foods available. Although this can
be a good indication of population, it can easily be misconstrued as we soon
learned. It seems there has been an increase in Indian restaurants all across
the city and as such likely has little to do with the diversity in the area.
According
to a report published by berlin.de in 2010, Turkish nationals account for 22.66%
of the Moabit population, with a significant percentage of Arab and former
Yugoslavia nationals as well. However, even if a person did not know the ethnic
statistics of the area, a general sense of it could be felt by just looking
around.
Some of the things that I noticed that alluded to the
ethnic diversity in the area were the dual language signs (including both
German and Arabic script), the frequent mention of halal offerings and also the
general population in the area. There were also many Turkish restaurants and
doner kebab booths, however these are all over Berlin so they are not a great indication
of neighbourhood diversity.
5 comments:
That's so true. Doner shops seem to be everywhere we go in Berlin and so don't really tell us much.
The same can be said about Italian restaurants. I have seen a number of these restaurants around the city and as Julia pointed out Germans like Italian food. This means that the number of Italian restaurants has little indication as to the Italian population around the city, just like the Turkish population.
Yes I agree with your points Keir. When I was looking for statisitics on ethnic populations I didn't find much beyond that of Turkish, Arab, Yugoslavian "other". I would think that there might be some ethnic connection to the Vietnamese resturants but then again who knows. I also saw a Jamaican resturant which was random but cool (it is in my top photo).
@ Amanda. I have also noticed this. Also, the Italian restaurants tend to have employees who are actually Italian so it feels to me like their is a high Italian population when maybe there isn't
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