h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I humbly submit an entry of my own device.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A536889

Nice one. This is thorough and well-thought out.

Is it true that the number of street vendors is regulated by the City? It's something that I've heard from time to time...

Also, in Philadelphia we've got guys selling 'soft' pretzels at a lot of intersections. Though I can't recall seeing any in NYC, is this accurate?

Hello,

Yeah, I think it's a fine entry too (as I've commented elsewhere actually), and Dr. Funk pitches in ably in the effort to have as many entries about New York as there are for Pennsylvania.

One thing that struck me about Philly (besides the mean people) were all the vendors selling fruit salad of all things. What is up with that?

Yours,
Jake

Hello,

Incidentally, two different New Yorkers claimed to have invented the hot dog (that is, putting a sausage in a bun and selling it). One was Charles Feltman, of Feltman's in Coney Island. The other was Harry Magely Stevens, who was the director of catering at the New York City Polo Grounds. Neither patented it, and hot dogs were part of the NYC scene as early as 1900.

I was thinking of writing an entry about foods invented in New York. So far I have: egg cream, hot dogs, vichyssoie, baked alaska, lobster newburg... No, we didn't invent the bagel or pizza, but we did perfect them.

Yours,
Jake

Mmmm! Nuthin' lika derdy wawda dawg frum da hoddawg stand!

* bookmarking *

I'll surely be able to comment on that after returning from NYC

I've posted a proposal for a h2g2 NYC meeting in May, at the community events page, http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A435791

I like it.

Do you have a favorite stand or are they all pretty hpmogenized?

Thinking back to the old Christmas song ("Chestnuts roasting by an open fire . . .") are there any seasonal changes in the street foods (other than vendors becoming scarcer as foot traffic decreases) or is it pretty much the same as it is in Chicago and D. C., much the same all the time.

When I was growing up in Kansas City, MO we used to have much smaller carts that kept moving (ringing a bell and pushing the pushcart) but were generally in the same neighborhood. My favorite then was tamales. That was all he sold, just tamales. They came wrapped in the cornhusks they had been made in. Illegal to sell them that way now. I think the taste must have been in those husks. ("Mem-o-ries. Mem-o-ries. Tales of long ago . . ." -- What? Hey! I know how to sing. You just don't know how to listen!)

Barton

Hello,

Well, there are some other more exotic stands for food. There is a Tamale guy in Astoria apparently, or so says Time Out New York when it reported on him even arranging to leave tamales hidden in trees for certain customers. There's also the Arepa lady in Queens and some other street vendors. In Astor place, the Mud Truck sells coffee, and down where I work, there's a chicken truck, pizza truck, 2 bagel carts in the morning, burritos, and Roti all vended within one block.

Yours,
Jake

My, my, my! All this talk from one little article!

About favorite stands: I don't have a particular favorite, as I like to spread the love around, if you know what I'm saying. But I can say that in a recent poll to find best hot dog in New York, the kosher hot dog stand on the corner of 96th and Madison, a few block south of Mount Sinai hospital, came in second or third.

About regulations: One imagines that, indeed, the city attempts to regulate the number and density of food stands. If they didn't, it's a safe bet that the sidewalk in front of, say, Radio City Music Hall or the Disney Spore would be jam-packed with carts of all shapes and sizes. But let's also be realistic: this is something that's hard to actually regulate. My guess is that, like street musicians and people selling fake luxury watches and handbags, hot dog stands flout the regulations to a certain degree, learning what neighborhoods are lenient and which ones are strict.

I wish I had the wherewithall to get into the history of the hot dog, but I realize that this is for another entry altogether.

Jake, can you post a conversation within the hot dog stand entry itself with those other food stands you've seen? If they exist, they deserve to go in there.

Hello,

I too like the spread the love around at lunch. I will say that I prefer the Kosher hot dogs, since there at least you know there are some things you aren't eating (it's still not as disgusting as Scrapple).

I think all the food vendors in New York need a license, and this might constrain where they can set up. I seem to recall once when I was visiting DC, there was a lot of protest because they wanted to eliminate some positions near the mall. I imagine it's the same here, but who knows? I think a lot of people will also stay in the same spot, since it's where the customers know to find them.

I don't think I can really add much of the other stands I've seen. Many of them are converted vans with Pizza Ovens or such inside. The stands are a bit smaller and ingenious in the compactitude. I know that's not a real word, but I'm just speaking like our dearly beloved President.

Yours,
Jake

Editorial Note: This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review forum because this entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

If they have not been along already, the Scout who recommended your entry will post here soon, to let you know what happens next. Meanwhile you can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!

Hello All,
One little known tid bit about the hot dog is that it was originally called a "Dachsund" after the little German dog it resembles...this, however was shortened by the sellers who grew tired of shouting "get your hot dachsunds!!!" and thus just called them dogs...but keeping the "hot" in their banter. So the term "hot dog" was born.... On another small side note, in southeast asia there are also many other kinds street food vendors...some of the most prominent being the "strange packets of unknown food wrapped in a banana leaf", the "tasty little noodles in unknown soup bases" and, my personal favorite, the "little steamed buns with various interesting fillings". These last are called "man" in japanese,the meat filled variety being called "nikuman", but they can be found with nearly any filling imaginable, and several that are entirely unimaginable...

Sorry, I didn't have time to congratulate you before it was moved out.

Thanks for your recommendation. You'll be glad to know that we think this entry is great, and it has now gone into the Editorial Process for future inclusion in the Edited Guide. When it does get into the Edited Guide, we will email to let you know, but please bear in mind it can take a while for entries to go through the sub-editing system. Thanks for writing for the guide!

*Michael Notforyou*
Official Scout, h2g2
Researcher U113408

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason Gray's Papaya isn't listed? Granted it's not a cart thingy but hmmmmmm....

<--- Who can taste a crunchy Gray's Papaya Hot Dog...

I can!

Ermmm... can what? Taste a Gray's Papaya hot dog or tell me why they're not listed?

I can taste a Gray's Papaya and tell you why they're not listed: Somebody didn't list them!

Shea -

Actually a and a (pretend it's a Gray's Papaya type drink) may just be dinner tonight on the way home from work tonight.

Perhaps that can be one of the stops for the NYC meetup we're planning.

Are you planning an NYC meetup? Where? When?

Have a look here, Dr. Funk:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A636789