Where Is All The Street Food?
As we continue to wait to be able to travel again, I keep thinking about the things that make travel so exciting. One of the big ones for me, that thing that really makes me feel like I am travelling, is street food. That feeling even comes when I see the greater selections of food carts in Vancouver (I miss going to Vancouver…) The inverse question to all of this pondering about street food and travel is why don’t we have any street food in Victoria?
As I hope you notice, when I write a blog article, I try and go out and take some relevant pictures to illustrate the point I am trying to make or provide a local example. I knew that we were not completely devoid of street food, so I thought I would go get a picture of the food cart on Government Street, but it wasn’t there. I also felt like the one outside of Capital Iron wasn’t a sure thing, so I went down to the Inner Harbour with the hope that there might be something, I was in luck. At the bottom of the stairs below the legislature was the lone food cart that I saw in my walk across downtown. When I visit almost any city in North America there are food carts with something to eat all over the place. Generally it will be hotdogs, but you also see a lot of tacos and shawarma. In downtown Victoria, one lone hot dog stand…
I know that there are detractors of food carts out there, they clutter our sidewalks; create unwanted smells and smoke; and take business away from other food retailers. I am sure there is some evidence to support these concerns, but I think that they are both overstated and overlook the benefits that they do provide. This is my argument for them.
Sidewalk Space
It might be a very Victoria sentiment, though to an extent it is a Canadian urban attitude, we like our streets hyper organised. If you have been reading my blog over the years you might have surmised that I don’t particularly support this. Now to be clear, I think we need to ensure that our pedestrian space is able to be used by anyone and that we need to ensure it works for people with different mobility requirements. That doesn’t mean we need to ensure that every space from building facade to curb is clean and clear, that is sterile and boring. If we ensure that we have a large pedestrian space we can accomodate sidewalk sales, store signage, buskers, and yes, food carts. So that means we can’t have food carts everywhere in Victoria, we have unfortunately underbuilt our pedestrian space downtown (and continue to make the spaces too narrow). There are some spots where there are broad sidewalks that would allow us to fit in food carts easily, Douglas Street, Yates Street and Government Street each come to mind right away. The City could easily designate more spaces and they should (more to come on that).
Smells and Smoke
One of the biggest problems that we create for ourselves when we try to build an urban environment that is clean, quiet and sterile is that we give the impression that this is the way a city should be. That then allows people to move in with an expectation that city life is basically a more convenient version of living in the suburbs. That is not city living. Cities should be an overload of the senses, whether that be music, the smell of food or the lights of businesses at night. Of course, this is opinion, but I love the smell of hot dog carts, even better the smells coming out of the Moss Street Market in the summer. Those smells are advertising and reminders to the hungry that there is food here.
Theft of Business
I have heard a version of this many times over the years, that food carts are unfair. They have low overhead and thus can undercut the prices of businesses nearby, which steals their customers. It is true that operating a food cart cost less and that is good (more on that later), but that they steal customers is debatable.
Now this is pure conjecture on my part, but when you are going out for lunch you choose the kind of experience that you want. If you want to spend some time sitting down and enjoying a lunch, you are unlikely to choose to just grab a hotdog on the street as you walk. Additionally, if you are wanting a particular kind of food, or a place that is popular, you will seek that out. Food carts are by their nature for a quick exchange of food that you can usually eat standing up. I suppose that some people that choose to go into a fast food restaurant may choose a food cart if it were an option as they are similar in their time expenditure, but I don’t see the impact being huge. If you want a Big Mac you will head to McDonalds.
Benefits
There are some real benefits to having food carts beyond the food they provide and if the city implemented a program to support them it could have a real benefit to the city as a whole.
First food carts are a type of placemaking, they bring real dynamism to any place that has them. Even if you are aren’t eating at them, seeing them creates visual interest and a meeting spot. They can also be a place for social connection with the purveyor or with those that are also eating there. The fact that you eat as you stand creates the opportunity for conversation in a way that you can’t recreate at a restaurant.
Food carts can also make our streets safer. Having food cart operators standing on a street corner means they are watching what is going on. They have a vested interest in keeping our streets safe for their customers and themselves. Those folks that may have plans to do something criminal are going to do so further away from prying eyes, so just the presence of the food carts will deter crime.
A final benefit of food carts is that they are relatively inexpensive to set-up. This creates an economic opportunity for those that might be new to the country or those that have less money but want a way to start a business. If the City created a program to open up spaces on sidewalks and did it in conjunction with a non-profit that supported specific people or groups, there could be a real knock-on benefit to having more food carts downtown.
As our downtown population continues to grow, giving them some additional food options while also creating additional vibrancy seems like a winning plan. That all said, this is just my opinion. I would love to hear what you have to say about food carts. Should we have more? Are they a problem best avoided? Please comment below!