Saturday, April 28, 2012

Toronto street food -- is there yet hope?


I have lived in Bonfield longer than any other place, but there is part of my soul that is Torontonian -- the result of having been there as a grad student in my 20s. Those were truly formative years.  The result of this connection is that I see T.O. as a microcosm, so full of human  possibilities, so often falling short.  Recently the emphasis has been on falling short, as the city seems to have been infected by the world-wide wave of mean, destructive small-mindedness.

Then I read this article on the movement to bring good street food to the city.  A place known for its extraordinary variety of food ought to have a fleet of trucks serving any number of  different styles of fast food, but small-mindedness has made it nearly impossible to run such a business.

Then comes Suresh Doss to remind longer-settled Torontonians of a simple truth:  more variety is good for everybody.  Specifically, good food trucks bring customers to the bricks-and-mortar restaurants they are parked outside.  As Doss works to make possible legal food truck havens, support among established restauranters grows.

I get a small laugh from the fact that Doss is an immigrant and yeah, a computer engineer.

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