Kingsport Plaza, International

Recently I took a closer look at the Kingsport Plaza in Schaumburg, an ordinary suburban strip center. Why does it need closer observation? No reason, except that I get a kick out of anything that belies a stereotype.

The stereotype in this case is the homogeneous suburbs. If such a thing were ever true, it was at least 30 years ago or more, but that only shows the staying power of received, but not carefully examined, ideas.

We go to Kingsport Plaza occasionally to buy kimchi from a Korean bakery called Rice Bakery. Among other things, they sell these enormous glass bottles of kimchi that Yuriko’s partial to. (Kimchi is rendered as ki-mu-chi in Japanese, because the rules of the language require two syllables like ki-mu instead of a single syllable like “kim.”) When I feel like heating up the roof of my mouth, I eat kimchi myself, though not quite as much as Yuriko.

A Korean establishment does not international variety make, but besides that, the strip center has an Iranian restaurant (called Persian), an Indian grocery and video store, a Chinese restaurant, a German bakery and a Jamaican restaurant. There are also assorted other shops without ethnic identities, but I’d say that’s a good variety. I’m especially eager to try that Jamaican spot.