Modern Vespa

So after reading this I realize that I don't know what street food is. I mean I have read about it and watched the Taco Chronicles on netflix but in the USA all you see are food trucks. I guess the occasional hot dog cart.

On the netflix special they show on one episode where they close down the auto repair shop and roll out the vertical spit and use briquets to light a fire. It's a night time only thing and people gather around for fresh al pastor Taco's.

What Jess and Besupa are describing with the "hawker culture" is exactly what I am looking for. I don't mind the idea of sitting down in a restaurant for a meal but the idea of the social aspect of walking around in a crowd and trying different things and eating standing up is what really appeals to me. I don't think they have that in the USA anywhere and I am curious to see what that feels and tastes like.

Working in the midwest some of the locals made a big deal about the Maid-Rite loose meat sandwiches. I went with another guy not from the area and we were not impressed. It was a sloppy joe with no sauce or seasoning. It was just bland and plain just a spoonful of browned ground beef on a plain bun. To each their own I guess but I was not a fan.

"Street food" isn't a thing you really experience until you travel in a poor country.

Any place with tourist infrastructure is going to have restaurants; however, people making $3 per day aren't going to pay extra to have a nice tablecloth and someone bringing them water. They're out on the street, buying from a little old lady who's been hawking the same dish with the same plastic stools for decades. Eating at a restaurant in Bangkok is a bit like going into an Olive Garden when there's someone with a wood stove making pizzas in the parking lot. You'll have a better time eating out in the street with the people. (This is also why hipster Asian restaurants have plastic furniture; it's evocative of how their target audience would eat when traveling in those places.)

It's not strictly true, of course - I've had my share of tasty meals inside Thai restaurants - but the economics of those places give you a hint as to why Thailand has street food and Reno does not.

Reno Public Market is a little like that, but it's poorly done. The venue overcharges, and it leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

Portland had a vibrant food cart culture around 2010. They had "corrals" which were effectively picnic areas surrounded by food carts (like food trucks but towed rather than built into a truck.) The most famous one was Potato Champion and Pyro Pizza. One cart served poutine and the other made wood-fired personal pizzas. They legitimately had one of the best pizzerias in the US, serving to some picnic benches on the side of the road.

It's been a while since I've had an extended stay in PDX. I was there on a layover last year and it reminded me of San Francisco - not as bad as Fox News proclaims, but a shadow of its pre-pandemic self. I'm sure there are still plenty of food cart corrals, but I don't know how the vibe has changed.

Here's a relevant example of street food that your post exactly describes:

I agree that the reno public market is not run well same as food truck friday. I was all excited to learn that we would get a Filipino food truck this year and went and asked for Adobo. Sadly they had none.

I also agree that I don't know what street food is, and I think it is very worthwhile to travel to experience in person. That is what I am looking for the poor/working class with a few tourists added in.

I am descended from a long line of poor/working class folks, these are my people despite my western upbringing.

All of southeast Asia really appeals to me personally and this makes me even more want to see it for myself. Warm tropical climate for much of the year, everybody getting around on scooters and other forms of two wheeled transportation and real street food. The beaches and the culture. I am looking forward to it.

In Los Angeles we have street food all over town. Yes, some of it comes in trucks or trailers, but, more and more, it comes from stands that are set up on sidewalks.

Here are some pictures:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=street+food+vendors+los+angeles&t=newext&atb=v421-1&iax=images&ia=images

And here is some history:

https://capitalandmain.com/we-did-it-street-vendors-across-l-a-county-celebrate-a-hard-fought-victory

And an example:

https://la.eater.com/2017/7/6/15930544/guatemalan-street-market-bonnie-brae-westlake-los-angeles

Looking back, I'd say eating cow brains as a kid. When I was little we still slaughtered animals on the farm. Missed the grisley stuff, but my dad would deliver the fresh brains to my mom who had to remove the meninges etc, she'd fry them up with onions and Saltines and as I recall, they were pretty tasty. I wouldn't go near them now.

And I had a chance. Some years ago, eating at an upscale buffet in Chapultepec park in Mexico City with my wife and in-laws, quesadilla de sesos was one of the offerings. I passed.

On a later trip to central Mexico, we were walking down a road/street on the edge of a town toward a tourist site, when we passed a stand with roast corn. Nothing exotic, that, but the preparation was, well, a bit different. There was an elderly woman serving. She picked out a cob for me, holding it in a rather sketchy-looking hand towel, selected what looked like half inch dowel and attempted to impale the cob on it by first pushing it, then pounding it on the table. Failing that, she turned around and pounded it against the stone wall behind her. Success!

Next step was to fish some mayonnaise out of a large plastic, nearly empty gallon-sized container (wondering how long it had sat in the sun at that point....). Slathered it up, covered it with cotija cheese and chile and handed it to me. My wife, rather alarmed by that point, nudged me and in a low voice said "you're not going to eat that are you??" I replied, "hell yeah, I paid like 70 cents for it!" Poor woman had worked hard to get it done, besides. It was delicious, and, no, I didn't get sick.

In my limited experience in the underdeveloped parts of the world, I've noticed a pattern-when you're aware of a risk, it seems nothing happens, when you're comfortable with risk levels and relaxed, something gets you. Maybe it's just me, lol.

Maybe not the strangest but ...

Instead of dinner tonight I've been drinking Bowel Prep for the last 4 hours

You've not lived until you've been welcomed into a random village in afghanistan with a feast that includes foot bread

It's exactly as scrumptious as it sounds.

On a "Tulip Seranade" cruise in April the food was very European. One day the menu included something including spinach. I'll eat spinach, as long as it's raw. Well, this wasn't raw, or spinach shaped. What it was is shredded spinach with some sauce formed into balls, heated, possibly cooked. Larger than a ping pong ball. Spinach Balls was the joke of the week.

My mothers family were mostly farmers. Even as a kid, I couldn't help but notice that we ate things there that I seldom encountered otherwise including virtually every kind of organ meat - brain, heart, tongue, liver, kidney, etc. And seldom (or never) good cuts of steak or a prime rib. I have since concluded that they mostly sold the more valuable products and ate the ones that didn't go for much at the market. I suspect that is the same most everywhere. Look at bouillabaisse. Widely considered an upscale dish these days, but traditionally made with small bony fishes which the Marseilles fishermen couldn't sell for much, so they ate them at home.

Good point. I do think we kept everything, but the steaks and other good stuff were saved for company..

How did they get that past Subways lawyers?

Probably the same way they knew jared was a pedo for years but kept paying him?

I'd say tongue is more muscle than organ.

I'm pretty sure no-one has ever had a sandwich the same as I've just had.

Ostrich Burger and Vegan Smoked Cheese in a Wholemeal Sourdough Sandwich
toasted in the Air Fryer with Brown Sauce on the side.

Bloody lovely too.

I'll grant you, that's pretty niche.

I have had an ostrich wrap once. Wasn't bad. This was at a place selling all kinds of fairly exotic stuff… bison, ostrich, alligator, all kinds of wild game. Can't for the life of me remember where it was, though I remember the decor. I think it might have been in the KC area, but I could be wrong.

My grandfather eventually remarried after grandma died, his new fiancee ran a country tavern, and had an event with roast raccoon. Hard to remember, but it was pretty greasy and unspectacular...didn't get seconds.