Tortas in Mexico City. Roadside chaat in Mumbai. Jerk chicken in Montego Bay. Breakfast tacos in Houston. Baked spuds in Manchester, England. Halal carts in New York City.
Most of the planet’s exciting cities have enticing street food. And, especially as we approach the holidays, the idea of spontaneously sinking your teeth into, say, a warm pretzel from a busy vendor becomes a part of a great city’s allure.
But Chicago actually has very little street food, at least outside of organized gatherings like the Christkindlmarket or the Green City Market. You don’t find street vendors here selling prepared foods on Michigan Avenue or State Street, at least not ones operating within the law.
This long has struck us as curious, but Chicago’s onerous restrictions are a combination of the power of a restaurant lobby worried about losing business and a long-established reluctance on the part of the city’s Chicago Department of Public Health to sanction street vendors on the grounds it does not have enough inspectors to keep Chicagoans and tourists safe.
We’re glad to sniff the aroma of change. With extra onions on the side.
Despite our many differences with Mayor Brandon Johnson and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, we are behind them all the way when it comes to their proposed Mobile Food Carts Licensing Ordinance, a new licensing structure designed to catch Chicago up with its peer cities when it comes to food carts.
As the mayor noted, food carts offer an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to make a buck without needing loads of capital and for immigrants to get a sidewalk taste of home in the city’s neighborhoods. We also see this as a way to make our downtown more livable, affordable and fun to visit. Our olfactory systems bring us lots of pleasure, especially when there is something sizzling right in front of our noses.
Certainly food carts should pay the same sales taxes as restaurants and be held to the same sanitary standards. And we’re not looking to see the territory wars as occasionally break out in New York.
But those issues can be solved through offering a reasonable number of affordable licenses for specific spots. And permit fees can go toward a couple more inspectors to make sure the chicken is being stored at the correct temperature. We don’t think most food carts are going to siphon off many people headed out for a nice, cozy dinner, and if they represent a fresh local challenge for some of our many national fast-food chains, well, isn’t competition wonderful?
If a cart with some tasty chicken and rice or a decent char dog appears near our Loop newsroom this holiday season, you’ll find us huddled up in line.
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Dining and Cooking