I could be doing the same thing in a restaurant, only there I wont be able to see and talk to anyone.
You see them all throughout the city of New York. Carts that serve food to people right on off street and your first thought is how disgusting this seems. However, street food is a fast growing trend that came up in just the last decade. Whether it’s from, carts, stalls, or moving vans/trucks, street food is New York Cities new fast food. The reason for its growing popularity is because of their mobility. This allows food trucks to serve a particular niche throughout the whole city. An example of one niche that is served is Big D’s Grub Food Truck, which serves a fusion of Chinese, Southern Asian, and Guyanese food.
I decided to interview a cook at a Halal Food (Middle Eastern Cuisine) cart near CCNY campus to learn how these street food vendors live and work. The cook, Mohammed, came to New York City over 40 years ago from Palestine. He, like many immigrants, moved to America for a new life with new opportunities. He said he moved to America for a college education in design. I found this really interesting because he is serving college students everyday. He said that he would like to take some night classes but his hours don’t allow him. This was his very first job in America and he said he got it from the friend. He says that he likes his job because his boss is nice and fair. I did not find this to be crazy; in fact, it started to seem like he had a regular 9-5 job; so I didn’t see why he couldn’t take night classes. However, it was not a regular job. In fact, Mohammed has some of the craziest hours I have ever heard. He works 9 am – 7 pm in front of CCNY, and then he moves the cart to Broadway where he stays till 5 am. This means that he only has 4 hours off everyday, which is ludicrous. When asked how does he cope with all this work, he simply answers that he has weekends off and that’s when he relaxes. At this point that this man has embraced the American saying: “Work Hard, Play Hard”.
When I asked him if he would rather work at a restaurant, he said no. He said that in a restaurant, he’d be doing the same exact thing only that he would be boxed inside and wouldn’t be able to interact with the customers at all. However, I believe that Mohammed also likes serving City College students because of their spirit and it reminds him why he came to America in the first place. However, he stills remembers his heritage. Mohammed talks about the food and how it was different back home compared to what he serves.
A lot of people here think that Middle Eastern food is always spicy because of what they eat here; however, nothing back home is spicy at all.
I looked further into Palestinian food and saw that he was right. Many times guests are offered nuts, seeds, and dried fruit as an appetizer; followed by the main course, which consists of rice, pita, hummus, beans, vegetables, yogurt, and chicken and lamb for meat. Mohammed said that even the meat is different.
Back home it just tasted better. It tasted more like meat and it was cleaner.
However, he said that they are prepared the same way because it has to be Halal, or according to Islamic principle. Halal means that something is permitted for those who follow Islam. In the case of meat, this means that the animal has to be slaughtered in a respectable and humane way in the name of their God, Allah. Mohammed takes this very seriously and even stops working to pray. He said that:
It is important to change, but it is also important to stay the same.
Mohammed is a man who may have not made it in New York City the way he would have wanted 40 years ago, but he has made it in New York City in a new way, a way where he works hard during the week so he can enjoy himself during the weekend. His dream may not have been fulfilled because he never went to school for his Degree in Design; however, he seemed like he found himself a new dream. A dream on the side of the street.
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