BBQ Street Vendor on Bicycle

[HolySmoke]

send the shopping cart pic to the guy in china, he may want to expand...

[Retread]

Originally Posted by BIGWILLY

Mobile BBQ

Oh Yeah! Now I gotta get me a shopping cart!

[1_T_Scot]

These street vendors where comon in Wuhan when I was there in Jan. They don't try to be western there so they seel the Charcoal cooked skewers and other stands sell noodles on the street.

[leanza]

You can't keep us down. We are where the people are, serving it up.

[BIGWILLY]

I'm afraid the glory days of the 'mobile shopping cart BBQ' may be over, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qedfz8nTHO8

[MayDay]

Originally Posted by HolySmoke

send the shopping cart pic to the guy in china, he may want to expand...

Um... I think they probably made the shopping carts in China.

Personally, I like the 2-wheel pedal power approach much better. A more elegant and easier way to get home than pushing a trolley. Also having 15 speeds(?) makes it easier to outrun the authorities. Not to mention having a bum warmer on the way home....

[MayDay]

Originally Posted by mbshop

we have made innovation illegal in the u.s.. better tow a porta potti with you if you sell street food around here. folks got mad when they tried to get rid of the taco trucks around here. stupid city thought folks would go to a restaurant for a quick bite. idiots.

I LOVE street food! Whenever I travel, I always like to try out the street food. I've had soup and dumplings in HK, noodles in Beijing, ice cream sticks at the Great Wall (non-commercial), fish crispies in Taiwan, pineapple sticks, etc. - all street food. Best tacos I had were 20 years ago in Tijuana from a little push cart on the corner (no porta potty). Freshly grilled meat and soft little 5" tortillas with help yourself to the red sauce or the hot sauce, flies buzzing around and all.

I am always amazed at the ingenuity of the vendors in that everything they need is on their cart, bicycle, boat or WHY.... Innovation is great!

I never made it to Thailand, but I'd love to have a plate of Boat Vendor Pad Thai....
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MayDay
Kamado Claypot, Cobb

[smokindorf]

I love it! I'll take two...run here come the cops!

[Stiltz6ft9in]

Not quite sure what i would do.... Not quite sure if that was legitimate meat...

[MayDay]

Originally Posted by Stiltz6ft9in

Not quite sure what i would do.... Not quite sure if that was legitimate meat...

No worries. They would tell you if it was some "other" kind of meat.

Makes no sense for them to be giving the "other" meat out. If it was so, he'd have used it as a selling point and charged more as the Chinese put a higher price on that stuff. The skewers being offered were all at the same price whether you chose lamb, beef or pork, so I'm sure they were what he said they were. As well, you could see for yourself. If not, you'd also hear about it from the other customers.
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MayDay
Kamado Claypot, Cobb

[jestridge]

I love street vendor food in the Us we too steril think food have to come from a well know food processing plant just cause FDA say it ok doesnt mean a thing

[MayDay]

Originally Posted by jestridge

I love street vendor food in the Us we too steril think food have to come from a well know food processing plant just cause FDA say it ok doesnt mean a thing

I agree. Wasn't too long ago when a lot of people hunted, farmed and butchered their own meat or gutted their own fish. Nothing was wasted. Everything was used, including the brains, hoofs, fat, guts and offal. They continue to do this in other parts of the world. Nowadays, eating or handling that stuff turns civilized Westerners off. For the most part, North Americans are quite prissy about food, being so far removed from the source of it.

While the US FDA has done a good job regulating public food, it's also brainwashed people against everything else. Standards are different everywhere but food safety is a main consideration for all good cooks anywhere around the world. While China may seem a 3rd-world country to some, the infrastructure is able to feed its 1.3+ billion citizens. That is is able to do so and maintain a relatively healthy workforce without a Medicare system says something to me about the food supply and the food knowledge of its people.

Originally Posted by Stiltz6ft9in

Not quite sure what i would do.... Not quite sure if that was legitimate meat...

Are standards the same? No. Would I drink the tap water? No. Is the meat generally safe? Most likely. But for now, I won't be eating rare beef or pink pork from a street vendor in China (for fear of trichinosis). Local vendors would know the risks of the local meats and cook accordingly. It's also in a vendor's best interest to NOT serve bad food as a bad reputation is bad for business.

In this case, I looked at the guy's setup. It looked fairly clean. There was no food prepping onsite. Everything was pre-skewered. He would only be handling the wooden ends of the skewers even if he handled money. The coals were ashed over and hot. The cooked skewers looked fine. The meat looked and smelled done, it was carmelized and browned, and it did not smell "bad" (you can smell spoiled meat even when it's cooked).

For me, the risk of eating this guy's food would have been low. But everyone has a different comfort level and different perspective, so to each their own. Personally, I love food experiences, so I like to check out the local offerings wherever I go. All the while keeping my own health and safety in mind. Not saying that I would eat everything though....

I figure everything in moderation. Don't sweat the small stuff. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Or since I was in China, do as the Chinese do....
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MayDay
Kamado Claypot, Cobb