This chapter in Gastropolis really highlights how eating out is such an integrated part of American culture. In fact, every type of social hang out most often includes eating at a particular restaurant as part of the plan. What intrigues me most was how, the authors stated “New York food is American food”.

When one things of “American” food they think of hot dog carts and hamburgers, which are avidly sold throughout New York City. They don’t think of other states, such as Gumbo made mostly in Southern Louisiana.

While the authors do mention how New York has a lot of authentic food and a wide variety of it, they don’t explain why the concept of “American” food is “New York” food. Why is that so? Why don’t people think of Gumbo as American food or other dishes?

Here’s our video and powerpoint summarizing the History of Markets in NYC and Food Riots.

Markets Powerpoint

Markets Video

Enjoy 🙂 Lisbel Diaz and Nathan Wong

Since the reading talks about the pushcarts as a main market, at what point in history did the merchant pop. of the lower East Side realize that they shouldn’t mess with the pushcart economy of the immigrants and how has that vitality carried over into the present?

How in the world did the pushcart culture survive? Throughout the readings it became very clear that the pushcart culture was not a stable and safe lifestyle to live on. Poverty plagued people and peddlers alike in pushcart dense neighborhoods. The lack of regulations made the industry susceptible to inflation and rising costs. The problems that it caused in regards to bailing out the poor when the pushcart system failed on the citizens (i.e. in the riots), trying to regulate the carts for physical and economic safety/health, and the corruption that consumed the supervisors and regulators. For something with so many flaws that directly negatively impacted the lives of so many people, it is astonishing that the pushcart culture survived for so long.

In the article, “The Good Old Days of Poverty: Merchants and the Battle Over Pushcart Peddling on the Lower East Side,” Suzanne Wasserman discusses the history of pushcarts in New York City. There was a campaign by “self-proclaimed reformers” to replace these pushcarts or open-air markers with indoor markets which Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia vehemently supported by creating laws to facilitate this reform. My question is, why was it so difficult for merchants and peddlers to live and work simultaneously? Why was there so much contention between them throughout the 20th century? Were merchants so eager to rid the Lower East Side of because they disliked people of Jewish and Italian ethnicities or did they believe the peddlers were bad for business? To what extent did these factors (as well as policies by Mayor LaGuardia) combine and lead to expelling pushcarts from the Lower East Side?