Strolling down Newbury Street can feel like taking a tour of the world in just a few short blocks. To the left is Sonsie, an American bistro and wine bar; to the right, Eva, a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant; and tucked around a corner is Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, a fan-favorite Japanese ramen spot. Boston is home to people of all backgrounds, and its diverse food scene reflects the city’s global character.
Boston’s food scene is more than global dining choices; it’s a reflection of the city’s role as a hub for cultural connection. High-end, culturally diverse restaurants like RUKA, a Peruvian-Asian fusion spot, bring the histories of multiple cultures to a single plate. At the same time, small immigrant-built businesses like Matki introduce South Asian stories to the greater Boston area through kulfi, a traditional Persian-Indian ice cream.
Boston's diversity drives culinary entrepreneurs
Across the city, food trucks, pop-ups, cooking classes, weekend markets, community kitchens and restaurants offer more than meals; they create spaces for people to connect, share stories and indulge in each other’s unique cultural backgrounds. Through these spaces, residents and visitors are invited to learn about new cultures through taste. Boston’s dining scene continues to evolve, bridging cultures through food and fostering a more interconnected city.
Boston’s culinary identity is rooted in its demographic history, reflecting recent growth of noncitizens in the area. Roughly 28% of Boston’s residents are foreign-born, and as of 2020 many live in East Boston, Chinatown and Allston. These populations hail from all over the world, including China (11,733), the Dominican Republic (9,033) and El Salvador (7,599). Immigrants energize the city’s neighborhoods and shape its evolving food scene, becoming the backbone of cuisines the city offers.
Boston’s diverse culinary identity is a reflection of culture, history and community. Megan Elias, director of Boston University’s food studies program, engages in work and research that explores food history and how that shapes culture.
“If you’re really interested in learning about other cultures, go there. Spend the time and live there.” - Megan J. Elias, director of Boston University's food studies program
"It takes a really long time to understand our own culture and then another one. It’s definitely beyond a taste," Elias said.
RUKA blends cuisines and cultures
RUKA is a Peruvian-Asian fusion restaurant located in downtown Boston. There is history behind every bite; patterns of Asian migration into Peru inspire its cuisine.
Elias recognizes this, noting that “[RUKA] is revealing something unknown. You should have some kind of consciousness about what culture you’re representing through food.”
Elias advocates for teaching cuisine and culture together. “We have this teaching kitchen where people are studying how to make food and then we have people studying the cultures of food. There’s not a whole lot of connection,” Elias said.
While Elias emphasizes the deeper cultural history behind each dish, Tony Mottla, general manager of RUKA, reveals how the restaurant translates Peruvian and Asian stories to the customer experience.
Mottla explains that RUKA serves both nikkei—Peruvian Japanese—and chifa—Peruvian Chinese—cuisine.
“While we have Japanese, Chinese and Peruvian restaurants in the Boston area, there aren’t very many nikkei or chifa restaurants,” Mottla said. “So we are highlighting that unique culinary world, taking it from Peru and bringing it to downtown Boston.”
The restaurant strives to immerse customers in Peruvian-Asian culture. The interior is decorated with traditional artwork from elaborate paintings to detailed carvings on the restaurant’s wooden support beams. Despite not being of Asian or Peruvian descent, Mottla feels a responsibility to properly represent these cultures in the restaurant through authentic ingredients and traditional practices.
“It’s important for me when I’m talking about these things to know about the history of these countries and cuisines, and to understand how those ingredients and techniques are used here.” - Tony Mottla, general manager of RUKA
“If a table gets a bottle of sake, we’ll pour a cup for each of the guests and then encourage them to pour for each other. It just makes for a table to come together and really enjoy being together,” Mottla said.
Mottla added that RUKA prides itself on creating a dining experience that is as authentic as possible, either making its food feel like a taste of home for somebody or transporting a customer who has never had the opportunity to learn about a new culture.
Kulfi redefines traditional desserts
A few miles away in Stoneham lies a shared kitchen and the home base of Matki Kulfi Creamery, where ingredients are key to representing the traditional flavors of India and Persia. Kulfi is a traditional Indian ice cream made from slow-cooked milk without eggs and with minimal cream, giving it a rich, dense texture that intensifies its flavors. Riti Doshi, a food entrepreneur and founder of Matki, relies on the flavors of cardamom, rose water, pistachios and saffron.
"These additions broaden the tastes of buyers who think dessert can only be chocolate or vanilla. They realize that dessert can be salty, have cardamom or have spices that you would see in a savory dish, but now you’ve added it to a sweet dish,” Doshi said.
Doshi worked with Nibble Kitchen, a Somerville initiative that supports immigrant communities in cultural and economic development and food entrepreneurship. Originally from Mumbai, India, Doshi wanted to bring the traditional flavors from her childhood to Boston.
“I just want to open people’s consciousness to this world of dessert,” Doshi said. “I think when we have this influx of so many global people, especially in the greater Boston area, it draws a very eclectic crowd.”
But Doshi is careful not to exoticize her product and she doesn’t want it to be seen as a token of diversity at the market. She is proud to bring traditional flavors to Boston and wants to normalize diverse flavors in everyday life.
“The story about the person and their culture is great information, but that should not be confused with how good the product is,” Doshi said. “At the end of the day, I wanted it to be a dessert. This is an ice cream, just like there's gelato. Either you like it or you don’t.”
What’s in your kitchen?
From fusion restaurants to small-business dessert makers, Boston will always offer a world of flavors in a few short blocks, but its flavors aren’t random. They are extensions of the cultures and histories of the people who brought them here. As the city’s demographic landscape continues to evolve, Boston’s kitchens will keep telling these stories one dish at a time. What stories lie waiting to be told in your kitchen?