Every year thousands of travellers, backpackers, visitors, holiday-makers and tourists clamber onto coach tours, trains, planes and automobiles for the once in a lifetime experience that is the Big Apple, NYC. Known as ‘the city that does not sleep’, New York is perhaps the most culturally iconic city that America has to offer. With highlights such as Manhattan Island, Time Square, the Statue of Liberty and others, it’s hard to understand why someone wouldn’t want to visit this great place…
The city of New York is a food lover’s dream come true.
New York has hundreds of street food carts and around every corner you turn you will find something cooking. The hot and delicious smells of onions frying, chestnuts roasting and plump pretzels baking fill the air. With such a huge volume of people swarming the streets, it is possible to find street food which will suit almost any taste such as anything from tacos to hot dogs to curry to German bratwurst as well as lobster rolls, specialty cupcakes, organic ice cream and Korean BBQ.
Over the past few years, New York’s street food scene has evolved from the standard hot dog carts to a gourmet culinary experience. New food trucks have been popping up and the selection is more high quality and diverse than ever.
Street Food Savouring Tips
If you are licking your lips in anticipation of the delicious street food you will sample in New York, here are some tips to help you in your culinary adventure:
• Pace yourself. There are so many choices that it can be tempting to want to have six meals in one day, but this will only lead to a stomach ache which will not be an enjoyable part of your trip to the Big Apple. Choose a few of your favorite types of street food to try so that you don’t go overboard eating everything in sight.
• Busy stalls with large lineups usually mean that the food served within is very popular and probably of good quality. Also, a vendor with a lot of demand is likely to have fresh and hot food on demand rather than one who has been waiting for a customer for hours.
• Keep an eye out for the cleanliness of the food stall. Is everything kept spotless? How is the food stored? Look for stalls which keep food piping hot, such as with gas burners or woks, because this will kill the bacteria.
• Carry cash. Most vendors simply sell their food from a little cart, which means that they might not have a credit card or debit machine. Carry some money with you so that you can pay for your food.
• Ask the locals. New Yorkers are very knowledgeable about their city and they will likely know all of the best street vendors to eat from. Go on a forum or just get chatting with a local and ask them for their help.
Enjoy sampling the many flavours of street food on your culinary adventures in New York City!
