In all fairness, Orangeville may not be the best representative in Canada's quest to be the most multicultural country on Earth.

A quick walk around town will confirm that those bustling about in their day-to-day errands are, with a few exceptions, mainly white. You certainly don't see many Vietnamese walking around. Or Thai.

So the addition of a fourth Viet-Thai restaurant in the local business landscape can be called rather puzzling. People can be forgiven for believing a Viet-Thai restaurant may not work in a community with very few ties to Southeast Asia.

But that's not what's happening. South 88 has been in business for several years, serving Pad Thai noodles and spicy chicken to the hungry, mainly WASP masses.

And customers at the new 7 Stars restaurant on First Street, at the site of a failed Indian eatery, said customers are reacting to their menu quite well, especially since they just opened last week.

The Chinese food in town has been called some of the best outside of Toronto's Chinatown, and on some nights there is a wait of over an hour, according to one customer.

"It's very popular right now," said 7 Stars coowner Nancy Tran. "This food is very popular and everyone wants to try something new."

Ms. Tran lives in Brampton. She and her husband Tom were driving through Orangeville one day and decided it would be a great place to open a restaurant. The reason? They had a feeling.

Xuan Lam, owner of the South 88 Viet-Thai restaurant in the Fairgrounds Shopping Centre, said the former restaurant's failure wasn't necessarily because it was Indian food, but maybe because it was that particular restaurant.

He speculated that the Indian restaurant may have closed because it was so slow to get off the ground that they kept reusing food, which meant a drop in the quality of the product.

For his own business, he's happy being in Orangeville. Vietnamese himself, Mr. Lam said Viet-Thai is popular because of the health factor. Chinese food tends to be cooked in oil, whereas his product is steamed and stir fried.

Whatever it is, Orangeville loves it. The addition of a fourth Viet-Thai restaurant near the Sobeys plaza suggests residents can't get enough. But there's also an abundance of Chinese food, a Canadian-ized version of Mexican, and another Indian restaurant still hanging on. However, Greek restaurants didn't work out, even when one was in the Friendly Greek chain.

Of course, there's even a chicken place that uses an old Kentucky recipe created by a colonel. How's that for diverse?

It's not surprising that we have so much choice when we go out to eat. Canada made it a mission to become one of the most diverse and multicultural nations on Earth. When people come here they do what they know for a living, so it only makes sense that people like Mr. Lam would open a Vietnamese restaurant. It's what he knows and he does a good job with it. Seven Stars is good too.

In fact they're all good. No matter what the reason, people have come to love all different ethnicities of food because, quite simply, they're not burgers. Taco Bell is about as representative of Mexican culture as maple syrup but their marketing campaign of a few years ago that invited potential customers to "Think outside the bun" was brilliant. We've stuffed too many burgers into our collective mouths, and we're "hungry" (sorry) for change. Foods from other countries offer quick service with appetizing portions and nutrition that would make our doctors proud.

We should be thankful we have these choices, and judging by the amount of business Mr. Lam gets, we are.

All over Canada, small towns are embracing cuisine from the Middle East, Europe and many different parts of Asia. It's time to embrace out multicultural heritage.