Who says Manchester has no culinary diversity?

About a month ago I was eating lunch with a group of co-conspirators in a Vietnamese place in Dorchester, Mass. I was midway through an unbelievably hot bowl of pho when one of my dining companions uttered something that nearly caused me to drop my spoon.

“Manchester needs some ethnic restaurants,” she said.

Truth be told, this woman wasn’t the first person I’ve heard bemoaning the city dining scene’s alleged lack of diversity. But the more I hear it, the more it annoys me. Granted, Manchester is not Boston and it’s certainly not New York. So yes: it’s much easier to find a grinder in this town than it is some decent falafel. But for a city of 100,000-plus, I think we’re doing pretty well.

By my count, there are more than a dozen ethnic cuisines represented among the city’s eateries, from the Quebeqois cuisine served up at Chez Vachon to the excellent Nepali cuisine at Café Momo to the mouth-watering paneer shahi korma at India Palace, Manchester’s culinary offerings span the globe.

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That said, there is always room for improvement. In particular, a Middle Eastern restaurant would be great. And I’d like to see the Bosnian and African refugee communities share their cuisines with the rest of us. There’s nothing quite like food to bridge cultural divides.