# Would you buy food from a street vendor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068 "2003-10-02T05:28:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/41 "2003-10-04T13:44:01Z")
Nothing like a New York “dirty water dog”! Especially Sabretts. Middle Easterners are making a fortune selling a healthy portion of boneless chicken over rice for $4 these days too. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/42 "2003-10-04T13:53:49Z")
Mmmmmm… street-vendor kebabs… **drools** Being broke stinks ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/43 "2003-10-04T17:24:40Z")
Wait a minute…could I possibly be the first to post this classic: What did the Buddhist monk say to the hot dog vendor?Make me one with everything.🙂 **bittersweet** : A PB&J stand is a really good idea. Sometimes, I just don’t feel like having something meaty/greasy. **Nvme** : It’s a good idea! I’ve never been to Vegas, but it seems to have many elements in common with other havens of street food. It has lots of foot traffic, and the people probably want to eat quickly and get on to other activities. Isn’t there a casino called New York New York? A hot dog stand in front of it would be perfect! ---
**Author:** ![WhetherMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e7dd6/32.png) [@WhetherMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhetherMan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/44 "2003-10-04T17:32:15Z")
For a hilarious take on the life of a food vendor read _A Confederacy of Dunces_ by John Kennedy Toole. It’s not about food vending per se but it’s a very grabbing read. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/45 "2003-10-04T17:35:45Z")
Which, Ms. **Bean** , _must_ be followed with what the street vendor said after the monk pays with a $50 bill: Change comes from within. And yeah, I buy food from street vendors. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/46 "2003-10-04T17:41:46Z")
Not with $50s, though. ---
**Author:** ![WhetherMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e7dd6/32.png) [@WhetherMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhetherMan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/47 "2003-10-04T17:46:59Z")
Oh…but to answer the OP…I would definitely buy food from a street vendor. The best hot dog I ever had was in Chicago. If you’re not familiar with a Chicago style hot dog it goes like this, in order of application: - Mustard (Use a more subtle mustard than the typical bright yellow French’s…something more like Gulden’s.) - Relish - Chopped onion - Sliced tomato - Kosher pickle spear - Peppers (They use a long whole type of pepper that I’ve never been able to find when attempting to recreate this vending delight. To substitute, I just use chopped sandwich spicy peppers and they do the job just fine.) - Celery salt For the vegetarians out there, it would be great if you could also advertise vegetarian hot dogs as this place also did. He seemed to gets lots of business. Good luck in your new vending enterprise! ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/48 "2003-10-04T18:06:02Z")
Every chance I get! I have tamale sellers, elotes, and paleta vendors right outside my favorite Mexican grocery store. Just south of the Loop there is a Sunday open air market called Maxwell St. Market (Not on Maxwell st anymore:(). There I go for huaraches de chicharron en salsa verde, pollo en mole, steak tacos, birria tacos and the most amazing consomme, spicy, with chunks of goat, onion, cilantro, a hint of cinnamon, and I think guajillo chile; it is incredible. There is also a stand that sells Oaxacan tamales- flattened rectangles filled with spicy pork, milder beef, chicken or even sweet ones fille with strawberries. The homemade tortillas and gorditas are patted out right in front of you by short little women who are goddesses in front of a vat of bubbling oil, there is NO comparison to the taste of fresh masa. Mmmmmm homemade goodness. The Mexican food there is easily the best in the Midwest, for 5 hours a week. (Rick Bayless’ places don’t count imho!) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/49 "2003-10-04T19:00:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nvme77 \* > \*\*That, Laurasia, is exactly why I’m looking into this business. I live in Las Vegas (the city of ultimate sin) and really you never see food carts. I have always believed that it was due to the difficulty in obtaining a license. Also, alot of the casinos on the strip and downtown have cheap restaurants inside. But there is a lot of foot traffic downtown and on the strip that could use a hotdog as they walk from casino to casino. The downside is the summer. It gets to be about 115 degress out here between end of May through September \*\* I’d buy food from a street vendor, but not in LV. I lived in LV for 8 years, and I remember the summers…I wouldn’t want to be in the summer heat for even an instant more than necessary. The cheap restaurants/buffets ARE going to give you problems. Let’s face it, they aren’t there to make money, they’re in those casinos to keep the patrons from going outside the casinos. And when I was there, those restaurants served some pretty tasty food. In Las Vegas, too, you’ve got those monster dust storms. I’d hesitate to buy food from a street vendor there because I’m sure the dust would be a problem. Even if it’s not actively blowing dust, there’s still a lot of it in the air. Sorry to shatter your dreams, but I think you have a good idea, but you’re in the wrong city. ---
**Author:** ![bojon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bojon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bojon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/50 "2003-10-04T19:50:36Z")
I work throughout the local construction sites, nobody packs a lunch. Everybody waits for the burrito lady/guy to come around their location. When they show up its breaktime. If anyone gets a bad one, the word gets out fast. Kind of self regulating. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/51 "2003-10-04T22:19:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spooje \* > … churros…mmmmmm _churros_! [Mexican Milhouse] Once again, I must sugar my own churro … [/Mexican Milhouse] ---
**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/52 "2003-10-04T22:43:22Z")
Quite a response for Mexican food. Maybe I should sell that instead? Actually, SO and I have been talking about the simplicity of hot dogs, soft drinks and chips. He much prefers the cart idea instead of the deli we were going to open. And in both of our opinions, its better than the pizza place he used to own. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068/53 "2003-10-05T04:19:22Z")
I buy food from street vendors, because I was one. My experience (not as an owner, I just worked for a guy who owned a number of carts) might be useful to you since I worked in another city with very high summer temps – Sacramento. In the summer, I sold ice cream (mostly Dove bars). It was one of the best jobs I ever had, certainly the only one in which every single person I dealt with was happy to see me. Nothing like offering people ice cream on a hot summer day, and watching their faces light up when they ate it. In the fall, I switched to selling hot dogs. That wasn’t as much fun, and I got very tired of the smell. You might want to experiment and see whether you’d do better offering different foods summer and winter. In Sacramento, ice cream sales dropped above a certain temperature (maybe 108-110 degrees) because there was no one out on the streets, but I don’t think that would be as much of a problem in Vegas. Good luck to you – it’s a fun job, and would have been even more fun if I was the owner instead of just working for an hourly wage. People will come up to you all day long asking about the job and telling you that they always wondered what it would be like. I can’t believe that this is the first SDMB thread in which my experience as a street vendor has been relevant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-food-from-a-street-vendor/205068.md?page=2)