Whenever a friend returns from a trip overseas, I always ask, “Did you eat the street food?” I do: it’s fast, it’s cheap, and it offers a revealing glimpse into a culture, showing what ordinary working locals eat. Gobbling bánh mì and pho from roadside stands in Vietnam gave me a culinary tour of the country in miniature: all the essential flavors, ingredients, and historical culinary influences were there to be tasted in a sandwich and a bowl of noodle soup.
Despite the fact that Boston isn’t very friendly to street vendors, a handful of chefs on wheels manage to reflect out multicultural diversity with cheap, delicious food to go. In addition to American classics like frankfurters and barbecue, Bostonians can enjoy cart cuisine from Thailand, Vietnam, China, Mexico, El Salvador, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, and Israel. Of course, our worst dining habits are on display too: next to that purveyor of healthy kebabs, there’s usually a caramel-glazed nut stand.
Fortunately, for the most part, Bostonians are not irrational germophobes. The lines at most carts demonstrate that we’ve assessed the risk of food-borne illness from street vendors as acceptably low. My take? If you’ve survived what goes on in some of our most popular fine-dining kitchens, a little dirty hot dog water isn’t going to kill you. So herewith, in all its easily relocated, occasionally hard-to-find glory, is the best of Boston’s street food smorgasbord.
With terrific options like these, it seems a shame that our fair city remains so inhospitable to mobile restaurateurs. Opening a cart in Boston requires braving a ferocious tangle of red tape: inspections, certifications, strictures on locations and operating hours, on and on. It’s nearly a miracle when a purveyor manages to open, like the brand-new Jack and the Bean Bowl, which sells vegetarian bowls (with beans, rice, avocado, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and cilantro) in Copley Square. So support your local pushcart; keep the good ones in business. And the next time your neighborhood association objects to a new food stand on the block, remind them of the thousand great, super-cheap taco trucks in Los Angeles and of how they contribute to the vibrancy of city life there. A town of Boston’s culinary caliber deserves divine street food as much as it does five-star restaurant fare.
CONTINUE READING: Boston street food: A moveable feast, with paper napkins
