The Demise of the Curbside Delight
Cover image provided by Unsplash, all other media provided by Elif Caliskan ’25
Street carts fuel the city, lining the busy streets with iconic meals that every New Yorker could recognize from the wafting smells alone. The legendary NUTS4NUTS, chicken over rice, Nathan’s hot dogs, cart coffees, and Mr. Softees sprawl themselves across the pavement each and every day. Yet the complex stories behind each respective cart often go entirely unnoticed.
New York City has boasted a booming street-side cuisine since the early 19th century. The industrialization movement in the north during the 19th century prompted many new advancements in modern technology, such as the very first “food truck:” the pushcart.
Around the turn of the 20th century, New York City became a commerce hub, with countless hungry workers pouring out onto busy streets daily. In order to satisfy the appetites of hard-working New Yorkers, street vendors began to sell New York City staples at accessible prices.
Ever since, street food has become a cultural phenomenon of NYC, celebrating precisely what makes this city so special: authenticity and diverse backgrounds being able to share their cultures with any hungry city-goer.
Flash forward to 2023 –a peckish high school student in search of a cheap and fast breakfast on her way to school. Before entering the F train station in Brooklyn, she purchases a $3 tamale from the infamous Carroll Gardens’ tamale lady. The pollo tamale con mole, simple yet spectacular, provided for a scrumptious breakfast.
Satisfied by the taste, yet desperate for even one more bite, she returns to the stand after school to seek yet another tamale. However, the stand is nowhere in sight. She wonders where the cart went, as the intricate setup seems to have simply vanished within the matter of a few hours. Perhaps they ran out of tamales, but operating as a permitless business, street vendors are in constant danger of unwarranted tolls from law enforcement. This prompts them to operate efficiently and only at select hours during the day.
According to the Gothamist, these fines can range from $25 to upwards of $1000 for vending without a legal and official permit.
There is a question that inevitably rises: what makes it so inaccessible to find a legal and official vending permit? The answer is rooted in a complicated dispute between small curbside businesses and the enforcers of inflexible street permit laws.
The leading organization striving to protect street vendors, The Street Vendor Project, reports on the current number of street vending permits accessible to vendors: while there are more than 10,000 street vendors city-wide, there are only currently 1,000 vending permits in circulation currently.
This initiative to cap street vending has been burdening vendors each year since it was put into effect. This leads to workers risking their chances of paying a hefty fine to make a living selling food on the street, by purchasing a permit for an absurd amount of money from a third-party vendor. A government-issued permit should cost about $200, yet many vendors end up paying a hefty bill, such as $20,000 for a vending permit. The scarcity of vending permits in the past 30 years has created a black market for these licenses.
Biriyani Car stands in front of the CVS on Astor Place, just around the corner from Grace Church School. With tempting food displays and a pretty strong satisfaction rate, according to Foursquare, Biriyani Car is a pretty well-distinguished Halal Cart.
Biriyani’s top seller is their chicken over rice, costing $8, which is on the higher side of the usual cost of such a dish. Nonetheless, the dish is served in generous portions, steaming hot and drizzled in delicious “white sauce” or “red sauce,” depending on preference.
Unfortunately, upon interviewing Biriyani Car, the cart’s owner was absent. However, a trusted and long-time employee of six years, Muhammed, was happy to answer questions regarding the establishment and receiving a vending permit. Biriyani’s is a properly permitted street cart, with an official vending permit displayed on the outside of the cart. Upon asking Muhammed whether it was hard to get the permit, he replied, “no, not very hard. This cart has been around for a long time.” His response portrays how it has grown harder to obtain a vending permit over time, but perhaps for longtime carts, there was once a time when permits were a lot easier to come across.
The injustice being faced by street vendors is not going unnoticed. In fact, in 2020, enacted by the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Cultural Licenses, a section of the city council, was a bill striving to provide aid for struggling vendors.
Introduction 1116-B, supported by council member Margaret Chin, stated:
“This bill would gradually expand the number of permits to vend food on the streets and sidewalks of New York City. A number of new permits, now referred to as supervisory licenses, would be issued in batches each year beginning in 2022 until 2032.”
This bill proclaimed to allot more permits and provide aid for street vendors. Shockingly, this law has barely been put into effect. A beam of hope for struggling street vendors seemed to have appeared, yet the city has been exceedingly slow in the mobilization of this bill.
Within the last couple of years, it has become harder to operate legally as a street vendor. Simultaneously, large food chains are popping up all over the city. Practically every neighborhood in Manhattan has a Chipotle, Cava, Shake Shack, etc., within walking distance. This increase in “quality” fast food challenges the demand for street food as the price deficit between the two is pretty minimal and those restaurants can provide tech-savvy ordering modes, member benefits, and, most of the time, a pleasant indoor seating area, which arguably are all things street food vendors lack.
Grace Church School junior Ellie R ‘24 comments on whether she would dine at Chipotle or at a taco truck on the corner.
“I would personally rather go to the taco truck because it is more authentic and a small business.”
It is important to consider that Ellie described herself as “not the biggest fan of Chipotle.” While Ellie aims to support her community street vendors, many students hold different perspectives.
Ellie’s peer, Ana P ‘24, seemed to disagree with Ellie, claiming that she preferred how she could “order from Chipotle on her phone,” which provides a more efficient mode of getting food.
At Grace Church School, there seems to be a Chipotle “army;” many students flock to the popular chain almost daily. Ana is not alone in her admiration for the spot.
Finn H ‘25 can be found multiple times a week at Chipotle on E. 8th street having an after-school bite with his friends. As a Chipotle enthusiast, Finn agrees that he would rather dine at Chipotle than at a street cart. Finn describes his reasoning to us: “Chipotle is consistent and reliable; never gonna do you wrong.”
In the Grace community, it seems that casual dining spots such as Chipotle are much more appealing to students than street food. Unfortunately, street vendors will not be able to keep up with the technology-reliant market the casual food scene in New York has become.
It would be devastating to witness the demise of our city’s notorious curbside cuisine. Organizations such as the Street Vendor Project are constantly fighting to protect street vendors. The Street Vendor Project has orchestrated numerous peaceful protests and raised a great amount of money to aid struggling street vendors. The work done by the Street Vendor Project is rather large-scale and difficult to live up to, but on a personal level, it’s not that difficult to help out in the ways you can.
Next time you feel that Chipotle burrito craving, consider taking your hunger to the taco truck on the corner. Some of the most authentic cultural delights lie in these curbside havens.