Comments on: Ask ML: “How Safe Is It to Eat Cart Food?”

By: Yvo

Yvo — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:35:07 +0000

Rudy, why do you assume she’s American? ;)

By: Spydr331

Spydr331 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:48:12 +0000

actually there is something you should probably look out for. if you go to a cart, and they have a huge pile of food on the oven, see how they serve it to someone else. If they take the food from the pile, put it on the oven, and cut it up and let it cook, go for it… if they take the food off the pile, shovel it into a container or flat bread and just hand it to the customer, keep walking because you don’t know how long thats been “simmering”. There is a cart on 6th between 23rd and 24th that i got sick at from eating there and thats EXACTLY what he did.

By: deanlo

deanlo — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:18:21 +0000

@ docchuck,

living until 67 but never to have eaten street meat is never to have lived at all. your good health is a true testament of your mundanity.

may you live to 150 on a diet of tofu and room temperature water.

By: Fred

Fred — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:24:38 +0000

The inmates at the max-security prison where the 400+lb “Doctor Elizabeth” is a guard call her that because she always volunteers to do the cavity searches, probing the inmates as thoroughly as any proctologist, generally eschewing gloves as she does so. With those same hands, she often prepares those meals DocChuck refers to above. Thus, when one says DocChuck is full of sh1t, one is more correct than ones may know.

By: CheeeeEEEEse

CheeeeEEEEse — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:44:43 +0000

CockChug, it boggles my mind why you post on a site dedicated to eating out. It must seem like you are wasting your ever shortening life.

By: DocChuck09

DocChuck09 — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:57:36 +0000

And, I have to repeat an old self-imposed axiom that my wife (a medical professional) and I have often stated, and which always draws heated verbal attacks:

We NEVER eat in restaurants (unless necessitated by traveling or business), and we would NEVER eat at a so-called ’street cart’ under ANY circumstances.

SORRY, but my wife (Doctor Elizabeth) and I think way too much of our continued good health than to trust it to the people who work in restaurants, food carts, and wherever else someone with a grudge, with a problem, or with a vendetta has the opportunity to adulterate, to mishandle, or to improperly ‘cook’ our food.

That’s the way it is — that’s why I am 67 years old and in perfect health — that’s why we prepare our OWN food.

Cheers, everyone!

By: Bossman

Bossman — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:47:37 +0000

You haven’t lived until you’ve bitten into a cart 4 minute “fried” chicken thigh that’s still freaking ice cold (and raw) by the bone. I survived but not without a serious case of brain freeze.

By: jtothexo

jtothexo — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:14:04 +0000

believe me, restaurants are not much safer than street carts. if you go to a good street cart, you won’t get sick. i’ve never gotten sick from a street cart but i’ve gotten sick from a sushi and an italian restaurant in nyc.

By: DocChuck09

DocChuck09 — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:28:50 +0000

That question, “Is it safe”, is like asking a Republican wingnut if Jesus could walk on water.

By: miss_softee

miss_softee — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:20:29 +0000

from a street vendor, myself, signs that a cart is clean:

– repeat customers. sick customers don’t come back. if the server is obviously friends
with the people in line, that’s a good sign.
– other vendors. we don’t always have the luxury of stopping for a meal, so eating off other carts inevitably happens. don’t get it twisted though, there are some serious preferences. if you see other street vendors eating it, it’s good.
– ask questions! I know that with ice cream (my specialty) refridgeration, stock rotation, and ice cream machine and mix box cleanliness are paramount! nothing should be in the truck for more than 1 days worth of sales. so, keep us on our toes an ask when the last time we changed the mix box was. ask to see cleaning products. ask to get in the truck and inspect the freezer. just kidding about the last one, but seriously.

hope that helps!
<3 miss softee