I guess if you're a migrant, an ethnic restaurant (is that term politically correct?) is one of the most obvious businesses you can start.

The Thai government used to sponsor (not sure if they still do) Thai diaspora who want to open a restaurant in a foreign country, it was their way to market the country and attract tourists.

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munk-a 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Thai cuisine is remarkably interesting due to Global Thai and both the funding for restaurants as well as the standardization of curry recipes that was led by the government to help spread cultural awareness of the cuisine.

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RajT88 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think.

Migrants move around to follow the work. (Think more like "Nomad") Immigrants resettle in new places.

I'm reading more about it, and probably these restaurants survive based on a combination of:

- Family run, keeping labor low (labor always number 1 cost)

- Central Asian and Muslim customers (much more than just Uzbeks)

- Setting up in low-rent locations like strip malls

So a few big nights a week can sustain the family business. I guess there's a way it adds up to a profitable business.

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frollogaston 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I did notice that the Muslim Chinese restaurants have a lot of non-Chinese Muslim customers, maybe because they want halal.

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knome 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think.

immigrant, im- (variant of in-) ; migrant into your country

emigrant, ex- ; migrant out of your country

both are still migrants. there is no specific cause for migration required to be an migrant.

you just need to move somewhere new to live.

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RajT88 5 hours ago | parent [-]

You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!

In terms of common usage though, it's as I said, especially in North America.

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ComputerPerson 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I believe they were asking whether or not "ethnic" is the correct term.

"Foreign food" or "foreign restaurant" seems to be the norm where I live, but maybe I'm uncultured. "Ethnic" wouldn't offend anyone I don't think.

	▲	RajT88 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Could be. "Ethnic" sounds to my ear a lot less possibly offensive than "migrant" given the current climate.

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vector_spaces 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

OK, I'll bite. In this particular case I personally would have said "a restaurant of your national cuisine" or even omit the adjective altogether since it's somewhat obvious from the preceding conversation what you mean.

My main qualm with this usage -- aside from being dated -- is that all cuisines are ethnic, but singling out the hypothetical migrant's as such implies that it is particularly ethnic. So in this sense it is a bit othering.

To be clear, I don't write this to call you out for your usage or accuse you -- I'm just answering your good-faith question.

RE your point, I don't agree that it's so obvious -- cooking and running a restaurant are pretty hard regardless of where you are from!