[getsmart-l] Street Food Contrasts - Overbearing Toronto and Dynamic Bangkok

[John O'Gorman]

Contrast  the fluid dynamics of Bangkok with the overbearing political impositions of Toronto's Council: 

 Bangkok street smarts (extract)

The sidewalk stalls and the tiny restaurants of the old city blend the many cuisines of Asian immigrants

by Joshua Kurlantzick Bangkok
New York Times/Globe and Mail Jan. 12/08 Travel Section

But for historical reasons, Bangkok may boast the finest street food on Earth. The city has long attracted immigrants from across Asia, so its street cuisine, both at stalls and in tiny restaurants, blends many styles. Even a simple snack like murtabak mixes Malaysian-style roti pancake with curry fillings that betray Indian and Burmese spices. 

Local habits also lend themselves to street meals. Since Thais normally eat many small meals rather than three squares and traditionally prefer to meet outside the house, street food suits them. Many Thai dishes can be cooked relatively quickly, and Thais are fastidious about cleanliness, important to customers worried about eating alongside a road. 

After culling through Thai food websites, I often arrive in Bangkok carrying a list of street dishes I must try - unripe mangoes dipped in sweet chili sauce, charcoal-grilled fish sausages, taco-like shells filled with shredded coconut. But real Thai gourmets tell me that noodles, the ultimate quick snack, should be the test of any street stall. 


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080109.wcouncil09/BNStory/International/
Street-food plan heavily garnished with city politics
JENNIFER LEWINGTON From Wednesday's Globe and Mail January 9, 2008 at 4:47 AM EST

The idea is simple enough - offer healthy, ethnically diverse street food as an alternative to the usual fare of hot dogs and sausages.

Yesterday, despite criticism that the project is overgarnished with public-policy goals from tourism and public health to social entrepreneurship and city beautification, council's executive committee approved the next "baby steps" for a pilot project this summer.

The proposal goes to full council later this month, stripped of its most controversial feature: For the city to borrow $700,000 to build new carts designed to cook and prepare spring rolls, samosas and other possible ethnic fare that meets a still-undefined test of "healthy" street nibbles.

Instead, if council gives its blessing, city officials will seek out a possible private-sector investor to build 15 carts and lease them out to city-approved vendors. Officials concede they are on a tight timetable to come back to council in April to approve implementation of the project this summer.

Yesterday, some councillors questioned why a popular idea had become complicated by myriad policy goals.

"People want good healthy food that's safe and tastes great," Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East) told the committee, arguing that potential vendors, not the city, select who makes the new carts. "I don't see why we have the city government trying to involve itself in business. It's a recipe for disaster."

But Councillor John Filion (Ward 23, Willowdale), chairman of the city's public health board and an ardent backer of the street-food proposal, said the city needs to play a close oversight role to ensure fast-food alternatives in poor neighbourhoods, promote business opportunities for food-savvy new immigrants and spur tourism.

"We have a chance here to showcase what is special about Toronto," he told the committee, with a uniform logo of "Toronto a la cart" to promote the new food stands that could feature a "signature" local dish.

Mr. Filion blamed "ideological differences" between councillors for thwarting his original plan for the city to borrow funds for the carts.

OTHER DECISIONS

Other executive committee business included:

Bike lane decisions will be routed through the public works and infrastructure committee so they can be approved in wards that want them.

Despite calls to press Toronto Community Housing Corp. to sell three single-family homes whose assessed value has risen sharply, the matter was referred to the public-housing agency.

Province to be urged to share a larger portion of slot winnings from Woodbine Race Track with Toronto and other municipalities.
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