Councilors want to make it easier for people to launch small food carts (Boston: neighborhoods, college)

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Are you sure on that? If it becomes a thing where a bunch of carts go up in the city I'm not sure I believe that all of them go through an inspection process.

They do and new ones also will as part of any sort of effort to expand them. Same as restaurants.

And just because they go through an insepction process doesn't mean they are clean on a day to day basis or have hygenic people working there.

Again, same for restaurants. Reading through the violations is not for the faint of heart. The idea that food trucks/carts are somehow less safe than brick and mortar restaurants simply by virtue of being trucks/carts just doesn't hold much water.

[simplexsimon]

Paraphrasing Anthony Bourdain he said something like "sh*tting your guts out every once in a while is the cost being a foodie".

You're not going to know beforehand what will make you sick, but avoiding the variety and cultures of different foods is worse, IMO. The people who run the trucks and carts aren't trying to make you sick - at best they'll be held to regulatory standards and at worst generally they make food for you the same way they would make food to feed themselves and their families.

My problem with the Boston food scene is that there aren't many options for foods other than pub fare, Italian, pizza, and seafood. There are plenty of good options for those foods, but if you want a particular type of non-white ethnic food, you likely have to travel a bit to the one or two good places that serve it. Trucks could've solved this if it weren't for the aforementioned regulatory issues. But a lot of it is a reflection of local tastes. It's not a foodie city.

I'd love to see anything pass that can improve the variety of foods offered.

[msRB311]

I guess it depends where you come from. To someone who moved here from NH or Nebraska, Boston's food scene is probably great. If you are in Boston proper there are many types of foods and fine dining available. It becomes less so as you get out to suburbs. I'm not sure Haitian and South American migrants with push carts can do much for the Boston food scene but go ahead and try I guess. There already are many South American restaurants in Boston and ive seen some hatian restaurants around too. They seem to eat a lot of goat, ox tail and rice.

[GeePee]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

My problem with the Boston food scene is that there aren't many options for foods other than pub fare, Italian, pizza, and seafood. There are plenty of good options for those foods, but if you want a particular type of non-white ethnic food, you likely have to travel a bit to the one or two good places that serve it. Trucks could've solved this if it weren't for the aforementioned regulatory issues. But a lot of it is a reflection of local tastes. It's not a foodie city.

I'd love to see anything pass that can improve the variety of foods offered.

I think there is some of that, yes. But the barrier to entry is so huge that it's almost impossible for someone with just a good idea and great work ethic to survive. Most of the restaurants here are "safe" because so much money is invested from tie wearing number crunchers that do market research. Not necessarily a breeding ground for variety and artistry. Once capital gets their hands on something it becomes a washed up family safe version of whatever they are trying to mimic. We need cheaper rent for people to peddle their unique goods, we need lo cost licensing for people to take a chance. If we keep going this route Boston will be the bland shopping mall in Braintree x 100.

[msRB311]

Where would these pushcart peddlers go? What kind of food will they be serving? I would think they would need to go to an area where people will be using them during a lunch break...so the majority of the demographic would likely be people in their 20's and 30's. These people are very picky eaters. I'm skeptical that someone just starting out would be able to quench the appetite of many of these folks.

There are also already quite a few popular food trucks out there to compete with.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Where would these pushcart peddlers go? What kind of food will they be serving? I would think they would need to go to an area where people will be using them during a lunch break...so the majority of the demographic would likely be people in their 20's and 30's. These people are very picky eaters. I'm skeptical that someone just starting out would be able to quench the appetite of many of these folks.

There are also already quite a few popular food trucks out there to compete with.

The first question will be addressed in whatever regulations are put forth re: pushcarts. If it's anything like the food trucks, they won't be allowed to just pop up wherever they want, when they want. There will be zones, caps on how many are allowed in a zone at a time, time limits in a zone (i.e. breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours), and probably requirements to keep them x number of feet away from brick and mortar restaurants, etc.

The second question is entirely up to the cart owners. They can serve what they want (assuming it adheres to any/all laws). Sure, they'll cater to the lunch crowds, but they'll also do special events, catering, markets, pop-ups, and hopefully locations in popular neighborhood areas outside of work hours.

You're also generalizing 20 and 30 somethings quite a bit. To me, this is the most likely demographic to support non-traditional food carts and unusual (to them) ethnic foods. Besides, the white 20-30 something are hardly the only market the city is hoping these carts tap into. More likely, it's intended as a pathway for people without the backing of big-money restaurant investors to break into the field of culinary entrepreneurship. The added benefit is serving communities that have large populations in Boston but limited representation. So even if the office crowd is not too intrigued by Columbian or Ecuadorian Chicharrónes, a small pushcart vendor could be wildly successful in Central Square in East Boston. Same for a Griot pushcart in Hyde Park, etc. And the beauty of the Pushcart is that you're generally doing pretty low volume with limited overhead. So it's not like you need to attract hundreds of people per day to make it work.

Our food truck scene is small potatoes compared to many similarly sized cities. There's a lot of room for more/better. Competition isn't going to be the issue, it's going to be over-regulation that prevents a push cart scene from thriving here.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

My problem with the Boston food scene is that there aren't many options for foods other than pub fare, Italian, pizza, and seafood. .

There definitely are. I do not understand why people parrot this blatant lie. There is virtually every cuisine I could want in Boston and I find it all very easily accessible. Thai Indian, Vietnamese, Salvadoran, Japanese, Jamaican, Trini Haitian, Greek, Soul Food, Lebanese, Ethiopian, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Authentic Chinese, Cape Verdean, Kurdish. None of this is particularly hard to find and requires like a 15-minute drive.

I'm 100% flabbergasted that this is a thing people actually think. Please explain genuinely how you came to this conclusion. Ive always wanted a longform answer because it just aint addin up.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

There definitely are. I do not understand why people parrot this blatant lie. There sis virtually every cuisine I could want in Boston and I find it all very easily accessible.

Im flabbergasted that this is a thing people actually think.

I agree with BBMM here. When I lived in Boston and worked in Cambridge there were soo many great types of foods out there that were easy to get to. Now that I'm further away in a suburb it isn't as easy to find a huge variety but that's to be expected. People have become somewhat spoiled i guess when it comes to food. They think that any city they visit they should be able to Korean, Indonesian, Persian, greek, or whatever on a whim's notice. I think Boston does a good job and has a pretty lively food scene..and in many cases they are catering to what people/the majority want. It's not easy to open a restaurant and keep it going.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

There definitely are. I do not understand why people parrot this blatant lie. There is virtually every cuisine I could want in Boston and I find it all very easily accessible. Thai Indian, Vietnamese, Salvadoran, Japanese, Jamaican, Trini Haitian, Greek, Soul Food, Lebanese, Ethiopian, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Authentic Chinese, Cape Verdean, Kurdish. None of this is particularly hard to find and requires like a 15-minute drive.

I'm 100% flabbergasted that this is a thing people actually think. Please explain genuinely how you came to this conclusion. Ive always wanted a longform answer because it just aint addin up.

seems like people are comparing Boston to LA and NYC...or the actual country these foods come from. Not a fair comparison.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

There definitely are. I do not understand why people parrot this blatant lie. There is virtually every cuisine I could want in Boston and I find it all very easily accessible. Thai Indian, Vietnamese, Salvadoran, Japanese, Jamaican, Trini Haitian, Greek, Soul Food, Lebanese, Ethiopian, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Authentic Chinese, Cape Verdean, Kurdish. None of this is particularly hard to find and requires like a 15-minute drive.

I'm 100% flabbergasted that this is a thing people actually think. Please explain genuinely how you came to this conclusion. Ive always wanted a longform answer because it just aint addin up.

Originally Posted by msRB311

I agree with BBMM here. When I lived in Boston and worked in Cambridge there were soo many great types of foods out there that were easy to get to. Now that I'm further away in a suburb it isn't as easy to find a huge variety but that's to be expected. People have become somewhat spoiled i guess when it comes to food. They think that any city they visit they should be able to Korean, Indonesian, Persian, greek, or whatever on a whim's notice. I think Boston does a good job and has a pretty lively food scene..and in many cases they are catering to what people/the majority want. It's not easy to open a restaurant and keep it going.

Among places catering to tourists and the after work "pub" scene, there is a lot of sameness in the menus. For somebody who wants a predictable environment to "go out for drinks" yet might be a little more adventurous in their palate, Boston might be a little behind some other places like NYC, LA, D.C., Houston, etc..