PARIS — Women in flowered robes and matching head coverings stroll past stalls stocked with Algerian spices, Moroccan olives and Tunisian pastries.
The glass cases at Au Royaume De L’ Oriental display coloured sweets made with nuts and honey. A woman fills crepes with a spicy vegetable combo while we settle in over glasses of mint tea.
Thirty minutes from central Paris on Metro Line 13, France meets Africa in the northeastern suburb of Saint-Denis.
Tourists are few, not unusual given that many Parisians associate this area with riots and car burnings that made headlines in 2005.
Most of the rioting, in fact, happened elsewhere in Seine-Saint-Denis, a larger area that includes several towns, or communes as they’re called, including Saint-Denis. By day at least, Saint-Denis itself has the feel of a French village, albeit one with a population of immigrants struggling with poverty and high unemployment.
