Forget the GORP (good ol' raisins and peanuts, for the uninitiated), leave the energy bars at home. All the sustenance you need during your urban hike of New York can be purchased within its streets. Street food can be found in many of the most pedestrian-crowded neighborhoods, such as Midtown, the Financial District, around colleges and universities, the Civic Center and, of course Chinatown.
The streets of Chinatown (provided you are not within smelling distance of one of the many fish markets) smell delicious. Egg rolls, dumplings, noodles, Chinese cakes, and many more tasty (and not so tasty) looking treats are available right there on the sidewalk. From shiny stainless steel carts, or from a tofu stand consisting of some upturned five gallon buckets nestled inside a shopping cart, lots of food changes hands in the city.
Because I grew up in the third world, I'm weary of street food. Back home, common sense dictated that those who appreciated their intestinal fortitude or had any moral objections regarding the consumption of meat of unidentified species were best to say away from the street corner, sweet smelling, and salivation inducing food. As best as I can tell, my weariness of street food has no basis in reality. It's just a hard habit to break.
New York offers a plethora of options in street dining, from pretzels, hot dogs and roasted nuts to kabob, falafels, dosas and the above-mentioned fare of Chinatown. Most of the Mobile Food Vendors - that's what the City calls them, must be licensed by the city and must also to be registered with the Health Department.
I decided to conduct an experiment of street dining. The Street Vendor Project has something called "The Vendy Awards," given to the tastiest food offered on the street. I decided I'm going to try the finalists' food and report back. OK, I will have Scott try the food and report back, being that I'm a vegetarian and, outside "The Dosa Man," there are no vegetarian choices among the winners.
If you'd like to know more about "The Vendy Awards," you can read all about it in the Street Vendor website at (sorry, I couldn't get this to make a hyperlink, so copy and past this into your browser): http://streetvendor.netfirms.com/public_html/staticpages/index.php?page=20051021224336800
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