It's refreshing to see that Paris of the 21st century is more than baguettes, fromage and crèpes. The city is
bursting with ethnic quartiers and petits-coins that are a welcome and necessary haven for expat Torontois.
We found the 13e, Chinatown, in our first few days here and stocked our little pantry with several kinds of rice
and necessary Asian sauces. Then, last weekend we stumbled upon Little India at la Chapelle Station.
There is no doubt that this is a Franco-multiculturalism that groups together a whole other world of people from
those exiled in Anglo cities. For example "Chinatown" here is largely made up of communities from Vietnam
and Cambodia. Little India's restaurants were mostly serving South-Indian cuisine from old French colonial
cities like Pondichéry. I guess I'm a bit of a Frenchy myself as we made sure to visit these places while we
were in Asia. Mais pourquoi pas?
Our walk yesterday took us to Belleville, the birthplace of Edith Piaf, the little urchin/emblematic voice of Paris.
She was born on a set of steps to a rooming house and went on to win over the world with her crooning. Even
today, the neighbourhood looks a little tough, graffitied with socialist slogans and messages against the man
with people huddled over drugs in the park. Working class in Paris, once a white phenomenon, now includes
people from Asia, Africa, and the Middle-East living in the residential blocks and social housing of this and
surrounding neighbourhoods.
These new communities have diversified the Parisian cullinary experience to include North-African simmering
Tajines, Tamil Nadu's Masala Dosa (South-Indian crepes), kebabs and Turkish tea houses. Traditional French
architecture has been transformed to house these new storefronts. Food isn't the only thing on offer; discount
clothing and footwear fill the streets of the 10e and 20e arrondissements. I couldn't resist picking up a pair of
knee-length stiletto boots for a bargain price of 15 euros, oh, and little gold slippers for a fifth of that.
Vive Paris Mondial!
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