[urbandreamer]

^Perhaps in the days of horse and buggies, that would pass for street food.

Today, we eat plastic and oily food because that's what our carriages are made from.

How about someone invent a new distinctly local food? Toronto cakes perhaps, featuring local squirrel and dandelion greens?

What do ethnic Canadians eat btw?

 

[adma]

Anyone for squab?

 

[Dan416]

I'd really love to see pad thai sold on the streets of toronto, along with any ethnic dish that proprietors would like to sell. Hot dogs and sausages are great, but more variety would be even better.

 

[jaycola]

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/636057

No surprises here. They managed to suck the life out of the street food project. When first anounced I was so excited about the prospect of real, traditional, ethnic street food throughout the city. What they have provided us is a sad simulacrum of what was promised.

Who wants a pre-cooked souvlaki straight from the steamer?

New ethnic street food offerings bland

Star food critic gives thumbs-down as two street carts debut ethnic dishes at Nathan Phillips Square

Desperately searching for nice things to say about the two new food carts in front of city hall, I find that my vocabulary may not run that deep. Though if it's any consolation, the buzz from homeless people and birds is extremely positive.

 

[ShonTron]

The other extreme is street food in interior Chinese cities - where they barbecue fresh meat right on the sidewalks, but you're not quite sure what you're getting, and one can forget about health inspections.

New York has all sorts of good stuff - and I trust that city's health inspectors. Not only are the rules too rigourous, the city completely messed it up, from staffers to Filion.

 

[christiesplits]

Sorry to crash the party, but if there is one instance where bureaucratic sluggishness and outwright blandness should be tolerated its with the Street Food program. What are people expecting? A miniature Splendido on wheels? In the face of salmonella and foodborne illnesses, I want the government to heed caution.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has tasted one or two undercooked souvlakis at Taste of the Danforth or wretched Bake & Shark at Caribana.

I laugh when critics call them "socialist food distribution carts," because when it comes to public health, I think we all loathe those pesky socialist public health officials like meat inspectors, who interfere in our freedoms by, you know, protecting us from harms way.

 

[Brian69]

Meh, the point is, if they are going to suck the life out of street food they might as well not bother at all--it just embarrasses the city when compared with other ones around the world. Train the vendors well, do random inspections and let the public decide. New York apparently hasn't lost too many of its citizens over the issue because they've let their vibrant street food program go on. I'm all for good public health, but precooked food and microwaves shouldn't find a place on any street corner.

 

[lister]

The other extreme is street food in interior Chinese cities - where they barbecue fresh meat right on the sidewalks, but you're not quite sure what you're getting, and one can forget about health inspections.

I had a street food experience in Taiwan. I'm usually leary of such food especially during a short vacation as I don't want to take the chance of being stuck in the bathroom or bed for a few days. However if you're with natives they can take you to the good places. We went to one place that had a physical building behind it but no seating there. The seating was on the side of the road, a side road that wasn't too busy. The BBQ was out in front of the place. They had some good Japanese beer on tap and in bottles (woot!) and the meal was quite good.

For Toronto's new street food, the government and bureaucrats have no business dictating what's available and where other than to avoid crowding. Let existing vendors and new vendors have at it. The government just needs to license them, designate what spots are available for all food carts and inspect the carts. That's it. The marketplace will determine what sort of food is available wherever. It's a damn shame this took as long as it did and resulted in what we have now.

 

[Eug]

Food carts still stymied by red tape

Food carts still stymied by red tape

Crib notes:

Cart costs $30000 and is mandatory.
Cart cost doesn't include shelter, so it's another $5000-$7000.
Rent is $2500 to $7500... for a street corner. That's down from $5000 to $15000!
Personally have to be there 70% of the time. That's actually down from last year.
No photos of food allowed. WTF?
Cart cannot be towed. Must be loaded on a trailer (unlike the hot dog carts).
City councillor denies that the cart program is overregulated.
The cart manufacturer says if it weren't for gov't intervention, they could have built a cart half the price and much lighter.

 

[W. K. Lis]

This is what happens when people who don't know anything about a subject, try to make regulations or requests concerning them.

 

[Jonny5]

Personally have to be there 70% of the time. That's actually down from last year.

A correction from the story. It's 50% now, down from 70% last year.
So Kyle Rae is in charge of the program now, but couldn't be reached as he was "out of town".

"Back in the mid-'80s, street vending was an experiment to animate a city that was a sea of parking lots," said Rae, who is not running for re-election in October. "But I'm afraid it's a fad ... they should be seasonal at best."

Thank God he's leaving. Of all the city's wards, his has the most potential for this program. Does he not see the hot dog vendor at Church and Wellesly doing business all winter? I guess he's always "out of town".

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Rae used to regularly walk the streets and casually chat with residents and business people to get the word on the street. He does seem to be away a lot lately but I trust that if anyone can get this project off the ground it's Rae, presuming his heart is still in the job for the remainder of his term.

 

[kettal]

This program is city hall's biggest embarrassment.

 

[js97]

This is what happens when people who don't know anything about a subject, try to make regulations or requests concerning them.

Yeah, it seems like they've almost planned for these food cards to fail.

City hall doesn't seem too be too busy when they're micromanaging 5 food carts?

I think the only stipulation they should have had are rigorous health standards and perhaps, clear labels of what they where serving.


Let the market dictate what people wanted to eat etc.

I still can't believe 44 councillors and 1 mayor decided they wanted to 'run' 5 foodcarts in Toronto.

Blows my mind!

 

[junctionist]

Yeah, it seems like they've almost planned for these food cards to fail.

City hall doesn't seem too be too busy when they're micromanaging 5 food carts?

I think the only stipulation they should have had are rigorous health standards and perhaps, clear labels of what they where serving.


Let the market dictate what people wanted to eat etc.

I still can't believe 44 councillors and 1 mayor decided they wanted to 'run' 5 foodcarts in Toronto.

Blows my mind!

I think it was an obscure councillor's pet project. I forget who it was, but I read about him defending the project in today's Metro. He cited the rainy summer, the garbage strike, and vendor inexperience as reasons why the vendors struggled. That explanation is hard to believe given the overregulation.