Ethiopian restaurants have spread from their traditional neighborhoods within the Washington, DC to several of Washington’s suburbs, most notably Silver Spring, MD.
By Mia O’Neill (AP) |
SILVER SPRING, Md.―Beginning in the mid-1970s, war and political turbulence led a large number of Ethiopians to flee their home country. Many of these emigrants came to the United States, with a particularly high number settling in the Washington region.
Thanks to a welcoming environment and local educational institutions, as well as legislation over the decades that eased immigrant entry into the United States, many Ethiopians were eager and able to stay in the area and put down roots.
“This area became a hub for Ethiopians,” Dr. Getachew Metaferia, an Ethiopian native and professor of political science at Morgan State University, told Capital News Service. “They contributed to the dynamics of multiculturalism.”
As this community has grown, it has infused within local neighborhoods vestiges of native Ethiopian culture, from music to language to art. Montgomery County even has a sister city in Ethiopia, the ancient former royal city of Gondar.
Perhaps the most prominent contribution of Ethiopian immigrants to the Washington area, though, has been food.
“A night out at an Ethiopian restaurant is as much a tradition here as an outing to a deep-dish pizzeria might be in Chicago,” Jessica Sidman wrote in Washingtonian magazine in January.
Today, Ethiopian communities – and thus, Ethiopian restaurants – have spread from their traditional neighborhoods within the District of Columbia (Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights and, more recently, Shaw) to several of Washington’s suburbs, most notably Silver Spring.
Continue reading this story at The Washington Post
——
See also:
- Ethiopian Immigrants Turn Job Niche into Labor Activism
- DC’s “Little Ethiopia” Has Moved to Silver Spring and Alexandria
- Bete Ethiopian Cuisine Review: A True Taste of Addis Ababa in Silver Spring
- Ethiopian Residents Celebrate Ethiopia’s Heritage and Culture in Silver Spring
- ESFNA 2017: Ethiopians Ready to Have a Ball in Renton: ‘Soccer Is the Vehicle of Bringing Everybody Together’
[…] Ethiopian Restaurants Foster Community in Silver Spring, MD […]