KCRag Forum

Being in IT, have worked with many from India but was surprising when an Indian guy at work told me that KC metro's second largest foreign import is now from India. I looked it up and apparently so according to The Star...

No surprise that Mexicans are #1 import (34%) but India is apparently #2 at 31% of the foreign born in KC's 5 core counties according to article. Like much of Midwest, KC metro doesn't particularly have high number of foreign born, about 126K in 2010 census, growing at about 4K/yr recently. I heard several years ago KC area had about 10K from India but is apparently much more and supposedly growing exponentially - and they stay. In the past, most KC Asians came from SE Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand), now apparently most from India lately if article correct. It might be confusing India with Asia as a whole.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 81480.html

People born in India are the second-largest immigrant group living in the Kansas City area. According to 2014 census figures, Indian immigrants made up nearly 31 percent of the foreign-born population in the five-country metro area, Mexican immigrants about 34 percent.

Imports from Mexico and Europe have declined. It looks like Asia overall is about 33-34% in 2014 yet The Star claims 31% from India - so if true only a few % come from other parts of Asia to Australia lately.

I remember seeing a map a few weeks ago, i forget what it was exactly but think it was something along the lines of highest immigrant group in each state I don't think they included Mexico because the map was full of other countries like philippines, Vietman, India, etc . Kansas and I am pretty sure Missouri were both India

I go to school at UCM in Warrensburg and campus is full of foreign born Indian students. Don't know why, but there's seemed to be a real boom the last few years.

So, I'll be the first to distill a culture down to its food. Where are the good Indian restaurants? Perhaps I live too far from the deep burbs where there are higher concentrations of people of Asian background. Chai Shai has good food that is considered Pakistani, but I've only had what I consider run of the mill Indian in the River through Waldo corridor.

JoCo appears to have the most Indian restaurants but I haven't tried any. Agree that those in city core are... meh. Haven't tried Chai Shai.

Asians are about to pass up Mexicans if pattern continues and Africans have passed up European import. KC does have one of largest Sudanese populations in US, and many coming from Somalia and Ethiopia.

I am surprised there aren't more Indian restaurants in urban Kansas City neighborhoods.

bobbyhawks wrote:So, I'll be the first to distill a culture down to its food. Where are the good Indian restaurants? Perhaps I live too far from the deep burbs where there are higher concentrations of people of Asian background. Chai Shai has good food that is considered Pakistani, but I've only had what I consider run of the mill Indian in the River through Waldo corridor.

I don't think an increase in Indian Restaurants or higher concentration of good Indian restaurants means anything. I think the people from India coming here already have jobs lined up in White Collar fields they, are not thinking about opening an Indian restaurant. The one who starts the indian restaurant might be the brother or family member who maybe did not go to school and has nothing going on in India so they move with and see the opportunity. Also, I think the white collar Indians are less likely to eat at these restaurants because usually the wife stays at home and they can make the stuff at home for a fraction of the cost you see in an Indian restaurant. When I go to Indian restaurants I rarely see people of Indian descent in them, Chai Thai does draw in a lot of students from UMKC but they are most likely to not really cook these meals at home or in the dorms.

Its a completely different scenario when it comes to Mexican Restaurants. 95% of the people in Mexico had nothing in Mexico and they have nothing really lined up when they come to the States so starting something like a restaurant is a good start to a life here.

I agree it's a lot different. Most Indians coming are for white collar jobs (especially STEM jobs) compared to other immigrants, less likely to open restaurants or Indian biz.

I recall the same thing along the Indian restaurant row in the East Village of NYC. You never saw Indian people eating in them. It was mostly non-Indian residents.

I work in tech. A notable percentage of our devops team individuals are from India or of Indian descent. I can count 7 without having to think very hard. They're all very good at what they do.

Most of the group lives in southern JoCo

As non-native people discover higher-end Mexican and Latin American cuisine, along with "elevated" versions of Southeast Asian cuisine, I would think it would be a natural evolution to see this type of restaurant. For the most part, I see Chinese, Thai, Mexican, etc. restaurants open with a typical Americanized menu and then put the restaurant on auto-pilot for many many years. Lately, certain places are opening like Chai Shai, kokothai, Spices, Jarocho, and even Port Fonda, showing a little different side of these types of cuisine. Sure, they are still gringo-fied and may have traditional American-version items on the menu, but they are generally truer to what these cuisines are capable of than those serving only deep fried tacos, General Tso's, Cashew Chicken, etc. Personally, I'd love to see more Indian places that don't have a 300 item menu and focus on some actual regional dishes.

flyingember wrote:I work in tech. A notable percentage of our devops team individuals are from India or of Indian descent. I can count 7 without having to think very hard. They're all very good at what they do.

Most of the group lives in southern JoCo

It's starting to change but the last couple decades in the US only a few % of high school grads went into tech/engineering field. It used to be 12% in the 80s then dropped to about 3% in 90s/00s when lawyers were the hot field partly due to TV shows glorifying lawyers. In comparison, affluent parts of Asia have over 50% of high school grads going into STEM fields. Is getting better in US but I don't think back to 12% like 80s and there are far more STEM jobs than people to fill them, hence being filled by Asians drawn to come here for the open jobs.

What's amusing (well sad actually) is that most English educated Indians write the Queen's English and their technical documentation is far more grammatically correct than most any American (myself included). Is really pathetic how poor grammar is in US, including domestic Americans with advanced degrees.

bobbyhawks wrote:As non-native people discover higher-end Mexican and Latin American cuisine, along with "elevated" versions of Southeast Asian cuisine, I would think it would be a natural evolution to see this type of restaurant. For the most part, I see Chinese, Thai, Mexican, etc. restaurants open with a typical Americanized menu and then put the restaurant on auto-pilot for many many years. Lately, certain places are opening like Chai Shai, kokothai, Spices, Jarocho, and even Port Fonda, showing a little different side of these types of cuisine. Sure, they are still gringo-fied and may have traditional American-version items on the menu, but they are generally truer to what these cuisines are capable of than those serving only deep fried tacos, General Tso's, Cashew Chicken, etc. Personally, I'd love to see more Indian places that don't have a 300 item menu and focus on some actual regional dishes.

I think the problem with that is that most Americans would simply not eat stuff that is truely authentic. Chicken tikka masala which is a staple at Buffets isn't even really an indian dish.

If anything we need a place more like this, a whole in the wall that caters to immigrants -http://ghareebnawazonline.com/menu.html

Chai Shai serves Chicken Biryani but i think its like triple the price than what this place offers in Chicago - I dont get why Indian places are so expensive for Dinner, i would eat it daily if prices were more like this.

What I would like in more ethic restaurants would be an authentic pick 5 appetizer. So I can try different options without committing to a whole meal. If I don't like it I know without dismissing the choice out of hand and maybe I'll find something I like

I also wish some places would do traditional options mixed with an Americanized version. For example, I liked Grandeur but I wished they had some more American side dishes to go with their traditional entrees.

Not sure if it is current practice or not but I use to work with an immigrant from Egypt. He wanted to leave with his family and going to the big cities like New York and Chicago there was a waiting list. But moving to Kansas City put him in the front of the line. Maybe that holds true now.

I don't know if it's true in general immigration situations, but I think that people immigrating under a refugee status can relocate to the USA faster sometimes if they are willing to go to less popular cities.

Let's say refugees are given a list of preferences. Their first preference might be Los Angeles. They might have to wait two years to get approved to go there. However, if they come to Kansas City, it might be just one year, or less.

I saw a movie entitled The Good Lie about a group of young men, called the Lost Boys of Sudan, who came to live in Kansas City. I recall that when they were in the refugee camp, they were given a choice of where to go, and they picked Kansas City because they would be allowed to immigrate faster.

I always wondered why immigrants seem to choose New York City or Los Angeles. Many immigrants don't have a lot of savings and come with very little, and they seem to pick the most expensive places to live. It would seem to me that they could stretch their savings a lot longer in places like Kansas City, where the cost of living is 60 percent less than in NYC, San Francisco, or LA. I get why the highly educated immigrants pick those cities if they have a very marketable skill. Maybe all immigrants, whether skilled or not, tend to pick the most familiar American cities that they have seen on TV and in films.

Despite the unfortunate anti-immigrant sentiment right now in this country, I am a proponent of immigration. I have seen the benefits of having a lot of immigrants in cities where I've lived. The cities benefit by being more cosmopolitan and interesting.

Immigrants tend to be more inclined to start businesses. They tend to be very self-sufficient and hard-working people.

Another reason to promote immigration is the fact that the birth rate has dropped so much. This has huge implications to our Social Security program. The low birthrate means that there are going to be fewer people paying into Social Security and Medicare.

Between 1945 and 1965, the decline in worker-to-beneficiary ratios went from 41 to 4 workers per beneficiary.

The Social Security program matured in the 1960s, when Americans were consistently having fewer children, living longer, and earning wages at a slower rate than the rate of growth in the number of retirees. As these trends have continued, today there are just 2.9 workers per retiree—and this amount is expected to drop to two workers per retiree by 2030.

The program was stable when there were more than 3 workers per beneficiary. However, future projections indicate that the ratio will continue to fall from two workers to one, at which point the program in its current structure becomes financially unsustainable.

http://mercatus.org/publication/how-man ... ty-retiree

In the political debate over immigration, this is rarely mentioned, and it needs to be brought up. It's a huge issue. I think if more Americans realized that their Social Security benefits are imperiled over this one issue, they might be more willing to allow more immigration.

If we directed increased immigration to specific cities that have lost population, there would also be a benefit for those cities since there would be more residents providing tax revenue for these depopulated cities, and demand for housing would increase. Cities that come to mind are places like Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo, Cleveland, Camden, NJ, Many of these cities have infrastructure for much larger populations, and struggle to provide basic services because they don't have enough residents to pay for them.

In cities where there is too much demand for housing, and housing costs have skyrocketed, the government would put a moratorium on new immigration to those cities. Of course, once the immigrant has become an American citizen, they would be free to move wherever they wanted.

I think we are being babies when it comes to accepting refugees. The USA is taking in around 10,000 Syrian refugees. Germany has indicated it will accept around a million. I heard on the news that there are 2.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey alone.

I think the USA could easily accept around 1 million Syrian refugees. Germany is a much smaller country and they are.

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I see some playing street cricket behind the midtown Office Depot at times with more Indian families in Southmoreland. JoCo has traditionally drawn more Indians but seems more spread out now. Plaza/UMKC area used to be mostly students but more families now - it shows in Mill Creek Park too that it's more families.

earthling wrote:I see some playing street cricket behind the midtown Office Depot at times with more Indian families in Southmoreland.

That's actually pretty awesome! Indian-Americans are already having and will continue to have a profound impact on our country. With so many people in India and open opportunities still in the states, it will be interesting to track this impact on politics and other aspects of society.

Curious stats...

According to this KC is different from most other metros with African, Laotian and 'other' Asian languages...

Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area is home to a population of 2.1M people, from which 96.2% are citizens. The ethnic composition of the population of Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area is composed of 1.53M White residents (72.8%), 256,756 Black residents (12.2%), 186,849 Hispanic residents (8.88%), 58,869 Two+ residents (2.8%), and 57,284 Asian residents (2.72%). The most common foreign languages in Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area are Spanish (108,590 speakers), African Languages (9,033 speakers), and Chinese (7,289 speakers), but compared to other places, Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area has a relative high number of Laotian (1,693 speakers), African Languages (9,033 speakers), and Other Asian (6,609 speakers).

MOST COMMON ORIGIN
1. Mexico
2. Germany
3. India
RELATIVELY HIGH ORIGIN
1. Bosnia and Herzegovina
2. Libya
3. Micronesia

https://datausa.io/profile/geo/kansas-c ... etro-area/