Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeMusashi
Toronto is a good example of what I'm talking about. Great city but it isn't more interesting than less diverse cities in my opinion. Ask someone from Toronto about why their city is great and they'll tell you about the international cuisine and culture. That is great but what does it tell you about the unique local flavor? Contrast that to Montreal or New Orleans. I feel you would be getting a more unique city experience there because those cities are invested in their past and its locals rather than people who literally just got off the plane.
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I feel like as a former Torontonian I got to chime in. The "international" cuisine and culture of Toronto
are from the locals. Just like New York city's. They lived there, they brought their culture there and it is what it is now. They're not just transients or tourists going to leave the next day. Even those who are not immigrants themselves live among them and partake in and experience that culture. Yes some of it is more "authentic", similar to the homeland, some of it less so, like the "sushi pizza" purportedly invented there. But whatever, it is what it is.
Saying that Toronto's diversity doesn't count towards its culture because it is newer than some other cities like Montreal or New Orleans and dismissing it as "literally just got off the plane", and saying it's not invested in "the past", to me is almost like an analog of what some East Coasters say about West coasters or the newer Sunbelt (saying that its got no "history" because they don't have the history of Jamestown or Plymouth Rock) or in turn, even what Europeans say about American/Canadian culture that we have "no deep history, blah, blah" because we don't have medieval cathedrals like them, or what some Asians say about westerners ("how China/India/Iran etc. has thousands of years of history, blah blah," unlike modern westerners who haven't kept all that).
Something can be part of a city's culture whether it originated in the 90s, 2000s (be it tech culture, 90s hip hop or whatever), or the 1890s or 900 BC.
I'm all for celebrating diversity past and present -- new diversity isn't better than old diversity or vice versa, in and of itself. Both contribute to a city's character.