Yesterday notwitty asked about street vendors.
In New York City the street vendors are everywhere and you can get anything from the standard kosher frank to some nice falafel (Moshe's right?). In DC within a block of my office you can find dogs, hot sausages, half smokes and a veggie burrito stand. The burrito stand has a loyal customer base for coffee in the morning and can get long lines for bean burritos (refried or black bean) with cheese, salsa, guacamole, sour cream ( rico's fave) and your choice of hot sauce.
In my travels I have probably eaten everything from beignets to souvlaki to breakfast enchiladas from corner vendors.
As a food lover (and also a bit of an idiot) I almost never think about the health concerns associated with cooking and serving food on a busy street corner. In fact I am probably more apt to order "the works" from a street vendor just to see what they've got.
Which brings us to notwitty's question.
"Do we have any strong opinions on street vendor carts? Is that playing with fire?"
Answer notwitty's query and please tell us about your life experience with food from "the corner".
And don't forget... WFL?
21 comments:
I'll stand by my statement yesterday.
If its something other than highly salted and preserved franks and sausage .. you're playing with fire.
notWitty is right about the fresh ingredients but what she may have neglected is that its almost never the ingredients but the preparation surface. Take it from a guy who had to learn the hardware about chicken.
Now, some of the best food I've ever had was from a street cart in Taipei, Taiwan but I was very careful to go with a local who had been using that cart to eat at for a long time ... she was also able to steer me clear of the carts where the owners did not take care of their equipment and their food prep.
If you see a big squirt bottle of windex or clorix and water ... then odds are you're good to go.
Good post Jo.
Thanks for the topic notWitty.
hard way .. not hardware ... I need to stop trying to multitask.
notwitty, I dined on green mangos with salt in central Africa years ago. other popular street/corner fare were the aforementioned beignets and grilled corn on the cob, which was also eaten with salt.
For the second day in a row I have brought lunch from home. Leftovers from my pasta dinner which was angelhair in a puttanesca sauce that I added ground beef, mushrooms and zucchini too. Delicioso!
Well...I have to admit that I'm not too picky with the street vendor food...and to be honest I'm OK with that...what's the saying..."God made dirt and dirt don't hurt"! So whether if my craving is for a hotdog, half-smoke, one of those gi-normous totally NOT authentic egg rolls, a burrito...or during Mt. Pleasant Day Festival...a kabob of street meat and fried plantains...if I want it and can get it, I'll eat it.
In my first and only Bonnaroo experience to date, I was a big fan of tasting all the delights that were offered via cart, van or hippy. Everything from fried olives, corn dogs, bloody marys, cantelope halves filled with vanilla ice cream and hippified veggie burgers...it wasn't until I got back that a friend had mentioned a rash of hepatitis A (I think) that was passed along at some music festival by a dirty hippy who didn't wash his hands before selling his granola grub. Soooo oddly enough, I'm more wary to take food from some campsite cafe than I am from the standard street vendor. Am I being prejudice???
uni, you have to stay away from the hippie wares on shakedown street at Bonaroo. Stick to the festival approved grub, which includes the divine fried olives, the obscene "healthy" burritos, and the most delicious lime-ade on Earth. I can't wait...
I hereby decree that the 2009 OWFL Winter Conference will be held in Central or West Africa!!
Check out Bonnaroo. At least three WFLers (myself included) will be in attendance.
So...sorry to stray from the WFL topic of the day...but I have been bogged down at work and my participation on the blog has been limited...my question is not WFL..but WTF??? Where is everyone? I hear from Jo that some S@#T went down at some WFLers place of business or something like that...donde esta the OWFL crew??
Hey Unicorn, Ixnay on the issingmay oggersblay.
We can have those discussions off-blog...
WFL people?!
You are much more than a seat-warmer notwitty. Thanks to bothe you and diz for keeping things rolling.
Compared to what, or who, might actually be in any given hot dog, there's very little that I can imagine a street vendor doing to put me off. Generally, I stay away from the mayo.
Chicago has no corner vendors. It sucks. I don't know this for a fact, but I assume there's a city ordinance on point. If I didn't have so many damn limes to cut, I'd look it up.
Looks like jelly beans for lunch today.
Hi guys, I'm slammed at work, but just wanted to make a quick appearance.
yes, I should clarify that I meant downtown chicago.
Re office, what?, I have no idea what you're talking about, peeP. Stop making things up.
My lunch plans were foiled by a "lunch meeting" I had forgotten about. They ordered in Cosi sandwiches. I had the club, with a bag of chips and a chocolate chip cookie. The pasta will go home with me for dinner...
No second lunch Jo?
Horrible! What is this place coming to?
Regardless, got taken out for lunch AGAIN! Damn them people!
Spoiling my quiet lunch plans for adventures deep into the tunnels of Houston.
Jo? Central Africa? That is pretty kewl. I wish I'd been to Africa .. but alas and alak I've only been to places in Europe, south\central America, and the pacific rim.
I want to know what interesting things people have eaten. Some of the most surprising things I've eaten were in Hong Kong.... That places is a culinary "Brazil" (as in the movie) where things are dreamlike and weird.
notWitty, not gonna happen ... I was green ..... GREEN at a swimming pool as the manager of it. I got so sick that I went unconscious for some time and was told that my head was "lolling around".
Forget it, I'm just gonna be pleasantly gun shy for the rest of my life.
Ahhh bliss..
notWitty, totally understand. It was a crazy experience for me .. I remember them pulling a tiger shrimp out of the water next to where we were eating and the damn thing looked like a ginormous preying mantis that was trying to flail around and snip the guy in the face.
Some of the best food I've had was there and in Kuala Lumpur (aka "KL"). Which is a sister city to Calgary and Houston (all rich cities literally built from oil but ugly as sin).
That is a good analogy .. Houston\Calgary\KL is that ugly rich girl\guy that you couldn't really bring yourself to date ... and definitely not settle down with.
notwitty, I forwarded that article around last week. Laughed my ass off. I even sent it to some of my "born again" friends, along with a few less than illuminating links to actual web based discussions on why pets don't go to heaven. It is all very silly to read.
Diz your "exotic foods" question seems to be a post in waiting. Don't blow all your creativity at once! I'll have several exotic entries ready for that topic.
We'll shame diz into it.
We need to figure out what we are doing Friday night and Saturday. The emails started to confuse me yesterday. I am so excited about the OWFL mini Chicago conference I am even willing to go to Bucker Park without a fight or a fuss or any kind of commotion. I'm big like that.
Diz, the “interesting things” thing would make a great post.
To all OWFLers…the blogger formerly know as dipso, lester, uncle sparkle and dipso misses you all with a heavy heart. You ever seen “Leaving Las Vegas”? Yeah, I’m doing better than that guy…but…kid’s got a point. Anyway, I miss yinz lots.
Notwitty… fuck…no “warmer”! You’re the shit.
I just made an experimental dinner that I don’t feel like eating at all…’cause food makes me sick (Should I change my name to “Jim”?)…so it will have to turn into lunch for the next few days. I guess I was playing off of some Greek theme. It’s kind of a layered eggplant, zucchini, ground lamb, tomato and feta type of thing. Cinnamon, albeit in moderation, is integral. Also, there is mint.
Jade, I thought the Chicago Conference Committee was working overtime already?
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