Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Food Cart Culture : From Veracruz to Portland....




















Food carts and street stalls are a common sight in Mexico, and a vibrant part of the food scene in the towns and cities as shown by the rather delightful example in Veracruz City above. There are always International Food Fairs on Calle Reforma just round the corner where I live here in Mexico City, and indeed at the school where I work, where regularly I eat my way round the world from Argentina to Zambia. So it was with pleasureable recognition that I recently discovered the parking lot pods of food carts in Portland, Oregon.....























Clustered together in pods, you can choose from tasty dishes in just one parking lot from Bosnia to Ethiopia, Poland to Thailand, Hawaii to El Salvador, Germany to Japan, Greece to Korea - and even the UK is also represented in the form of The Frying Scotsman...























The main difference in such standup outdoor eating in Portland and Mexico is the sheer range and diversity in the Portland parking lots, plus of course the weather. Portland residents are tough, outdoor, hardy types and quite happily settled to eat outside in the pouring rain (and it certainly poured with rain - 72 hours non-stop) even sitting down at table and chairs....























Everyone has their favourite street stall to eat from here in Mexico City, and a common sight during the day pictures Professionals in smart suits crowding round the stalls to order their favourite tacos. These food carts below are typical examples of those wheeled around the streets of Mexico City...
























Put them into sepia and you could be turning back the clock to a different century, a different era...one of the most charming aspects of time-warp Mexico City...























Check out other windows on the world by clicking here for My World Tuesday. Enjoy!

8 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Ah, yes! They are everywhere, aren't they? I do enjoy them, but haven't gotten to the point where I'm willing to sit in the rain! Hope your trip has gone well, Catherine! When are you headed for France? Enjoy your week!

Sylvia

stardust said...

Hi, Catherine! This is an interesting post. Looks like food world fair on the streets. I wonder what are served at Japanese vendor. In Japan, there are many food carts at festivals or at outdoor events, not usually on the streets. Have a nice week!

A Cuban In London said...

Yeeesss! "Los fiambres". That's what we call them in Cuba. Great post that took me back a couple of decades and me buying omelette in a roll at my local food cart.

Many thanks. That was a lovely post.

Greetings from London.

NatureFootstep said...

wow, never seen anything like it. Would be fun walking around trying different foods.

Lynne with an e said...

Chip vans by any other name are just as tasty! I'm not keen on standing around eating in either the pouring rain or sweltering heat, though. We don't have any food vans or carts happening in this area, alas, not even in the nearest city. Hmmm...perhaps a good business opportunity?

Fly Girl said...

Great post! I think street carts are an interesting insight into the personality of a city. I'm not at all surprised at the diversity of Portland's food carts. Do you think there are real health risks with sampling Mexico City food carts?

Chubskulit Rose said...

Beautiful shadow shots, thanks for sharing your side of the world!

Shadow shots on a relaxing walk, have a great weekend!

Unknown said...

The first food carts probably came into being at the time of the beginning Ancient and Roman selo bania civilisations, with investors switching old hand-carts and lesser creature driven golf trolleys into cellular trading models. Carts have the specific benefits of being able to be shifted should a place not be effective in sales, as well as moving products to/from shed to the place selected from which to business. Many of them in city of Pattaya.