Street Food

At the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco there is a tank in the aquarium where several amazing, other-worldly seahorses live. I’m fascinated by them. They move to and fro like a hot air balloon floating lazily over the Napa valley. So imagine the “ewwww” factor when I opened my book What the World Eats and saw a photo like this one:

In Beijing, China, street vendors sell dried seahorses on a stick.

Now don’t get me wrong- I am completely on board with the street vendor idea. Four and five star restaurants are fine and dandy, but for my money some of the best food in the world is bought on city streets. Cases in point:

• on a cobblestone street corner in Bratislava, Slovakia, a man sold me a rolled up cone of newspaper that held a dozen or so chestnuts that he had just roasted on his cart.
• in the Philippines, I snacked on delicious strips of grilled chicken on sticks.
• in Maui, teenagers standing under coconut trees sold me chilled chunks of mango and pineapple out of an ice chest.
• in Bangkok, virtually every square foot of sidewalk space was claimed by food vendors setting up mini-kitchens from their carts and the aromas of the satays, curries, and various noodle soups fought a losing battle to overcome the odor of automobile exhaust.
• just last December I gamely embraced the New York ritual of buying a basic but adequate hot dog from a street vendor near Rockefeller Center.

Street food. Most City dwellers have noshed a taco or burrito from one of San Francisco’s many taco trucks. And those of us who have frequented Zeitgeist or other bars know that the Tamale Lady makes tamales so good they bring a tear to your eye. But I’ve been reading in the newspaper that the crappy economy has birthed a new breed of vendors roaming our city streets.

At 24th and Mission, “Murat the Muffin Man” sells strawberry tarts, zucchini muffins, and chai tea for $1. Peddling his cuisine in Dolores Park is “Curtis the Crème Brulee Guy” who skillfully finishes off the carmelized sugar with his blowtorch.

The Department of Public Health may be getting nervous about these culinary entrepreneurs, but I think it is a good thing to have them around. And if I find out that there is a street vendor in Chinatown who is selling seahorses on a stick, with a lot of prodding I just may go ahead and give it a taste. And to assuage my guilt, I will immediately make a donation designated to the seahorse exhibit at the Academy of Sciences.