Episode Overview

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Episode: A New Exhibition Celebrates New York City's Street Food Vendors
Air Date: December 5, 2025

This episode explores "Street Food City," a new exhibition at Brooklyn’s Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) that celebrates the essential, colorful, and often-overlooked world of New York City's street food vendors. Host Alison Stewart is joined by MOFAD President Nazli Parvizi and Curator Catherine Piccoli to discuss the history, present, and future of street food vending, the cultural and culinary impacts of vendors (predominantly immigrants), and the challenges they face. The show also features lively listener call-ins sharing personal street food stories, and highlights unique artifacts and multimedia from the exhibition.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Exhibition’s Purpose and Inspiration

• Street Food as an Entry Point to Discuss Larger Issues:

  • Parvizi shares that the exhibition leverages the universal appeal of food to foster understanding and empathy regarding immigration.

    “Food is a really wonderful way about talking about issues that we care about... Street food is an immigrant phenomenon.” (Nazli Parvizi, 02:01)

• Celebrating Invisible Entrepreneurs:

  • Piccoli emphasizes the hard work, culture, and deliciousness that vendors bring, often unnoticed by hurried New Yorkers.

    “To be able to give them their flowers honestly feels really lovely.” (Catherine Piccoli, 03:32)

Tracing the History of Street Food Vendors

• Surveying 400 Years:

  • Exhibition covers from New Amsterdam (1624) to present—focusing on who vended, what foods, how vending has evolved, and the cyclical impact of immigration and regulation.

    “You can really see how street food vending changes over time ... but also how so much of it stays the same.” (Piccoli, 04:02)

• Last Mile Problem and Community Access:

  • Early street vending sometimes addressed food deserts—vendors provided fresh food to underserved neighborhoods.

    “Street vending answered the sort of problem that we still have today, which is last mile delivery of fresh food to neighborhoods that can’t access fresh food.” (Parvizi, 05:09)

• Role During Crisis:

  • Food trucks used during Hurricane Sandy recovery—street vending as critical infrastructure.

    “We used food trucks ... to bring food and meals to people who just couldn’t leave their neighborhoods...” (Parvizi, 05:30)

The Joy and Magic of NYC Street Food (Listener Stories)

• Halal Cart Hero:
  • Nick from Astoria rhapsodizes about “Eat It” halal cart and owner Ahmed’s cube-shaped falafel:

    “His falafel is the absolute perfect. It’s so crispy on the outside… the flavors just explode...It’s just the perfect snack.” (Nick, 06:38)

• Dumpling Love Story:
  • Joy from Huntington shares the playful story behind “Happy Fat Ass Dumplings,” her husband’s side-hustle catering business.

    “I’m happy and I have a fat rear end because of your dumpling. So let’s just call it… Happy Fat Ass Dumplings.” (Joy, 12:34)

• Cultural Mosaic:
  • Callers and texts celebrate Israeli Druze food, holiday chestnut vendors, churros on the subway, and more, reflecting how vendor foods mark people's lives, neighborhoods, and even seasons.

    “...the smells of the chestnut vendors, the hot pretzels...The smells are so important to add to the excitement of the holiday season in New York. It’s Gershwin, it’s Woody Allen. It’s everything we love about New York.” (Harold, 13:53)

Exhibition Creation and International Context

• Scholarly Advisors and Community Input:
  • Input from the Street Vendor Project and scholars ensures depth and respect for vendor stories, and comparisons with global street food cultures.

    “The folks at Street Vendor Project helped connect us with so many vendors… people working within the street food vending ecosystem.” (Piccoli, 08:44)

• Global Gallery—Food Photography Collaboration:
  • Partnership with the International Food Photography Awards brings a global lens through 30 curated images of vendors from around the world.

    “It gives you an international gallery of street vending from around the world… The pictures are so gorgeous.” (Parvizi, 11:00)

Deep Dives: History, Culture, and Sound

• Songs and Street Cries - Hot Corn Girls:
  • 19th-century “Hot Corn Girls”—many African-American women—used original calls and songs to sell boiled corn.

    “‘You have money, I have none. Buy my corn so I can go home.’” (Piccoli, 15:53)

• Street Sounds – Identity and Marketing:
  • Early vendors stood out through loud calls; truck vendors used tuned bells.

    “New York was a much louder city... If you were more attractive, if you had the best song, if you sung it well, you were gonna get the attention.” (Parvizi, 16:41)

Systemic Struggles and Advocacy

• Regulatory Maze and Immigrant Insecurity:
  • Obtaining a legal vending permit in NYC can take decades—many operate in fear of fines, police, or ICE.

    “No one has a fair shot of getting a fair vending license... The fear of ICE and immigration—97% of our vendors are immigrants. Half of them are women.” (Parvizi, 19:08)

  • Heartbreaking display: protest sign reading “Feeding our families is not a crime.”
• Rising Costs and Dwindling Returns:

  “What you’ll see through our exhibition is why it’s so expensive now, why vendors have to charge so much, and how little of it they’re actually taking home, despite the $11 halal.” (Parvizi, 20:44)

Exhibition Highlights and Visitor Experience

• Immersive Media:
  • Visitors can listen to original vendor interviews and even use VR to step into a vendor’s shoes.

    “We created some virtual reality experiences so you can put on that headset, be in a cart, in a truck. I think so many New Yorkers have not ever been able to experience this and this is a cool way to do that.” (Piccoli, 20:49)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the Essential Humanity of Street Food Vendors:

  “Feeding our families is not a crime.” (Exhibit protest sign, shared by Parvizi, 19:42)

• On Street Food Culture as New York’s Heartbeat:

  “We think New York City is a museum of food and drink.” (Parvizi, 10:25)

• On the Joyous, Scented Cityscape:

  “You say nuts for nuts, and everybody’s just like, ah...they’re scenting our city in the best way possible.” (Parvizi, 14:34)

• Vendor’s Song as Historical Advertising:

  “A t a Tasket, I sell fish by the basket. If you folks don’t buy some fish, I’m gonna put you in a casket…” (Clyde Kingfish Smith street call, performed by Jared Kemp, 16:13)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:09 – Alison introduces exhibition & guests
• 02:01 – Nazli on using food to humanize the immigration debate
• 04:02 – Catherine on selecting exhibition stories
• 05:09 – Nazli on food deserts and last mile delivery
• 06:38 – Nick calls in with his halal cart story
• 08:44 – Catherine on input from scholars and vendors
• 09:57 – Nazli on international photography exhibition
• 12:34 – Joy calls in with the “Happy Fat Ass Dumplings” anecdote
• 13:53 – Harold calls in about iconic holiday vendor smells
• 14:59 – Catherine on “Hot Corn Girls” and their calls
• 16:13 – Performance of Clyde Kingfish Smith’s vendor call
• 18:29 – Nazli on regulatory and immigration challenges
• 20:49 – Catherine on immersive audiovisual and VR experiences

Conclusion

“Street Food City” elevates the vital, often invisible work of New York’s street food vendors. Through exhibits, stories, immersive media, and public participation, the show affirms how these entrepreneurs feed the city both physically and culturally—often in the face of immense adversity. Listeners come away with a new appreciation for the faces behind the carts, the flavors that define neighborhoods, and the efforts to ensure street food remains a vibrant, accessible part of NYC’s cultural landscape.