food-to-go

yikes! our group can get pretty excited.

This week we talked about mobile food stands based on Jessica Johnston's article about "Toronto's hot dog hegemony."

Yes, we spent too much time talking about it. One group member i though was going to lose it because we have an incredible amount of work left to do on our group paper and this article really doesn't look like it's going to contribute anything to our thesis. Still, it was an interesting read - light, accessible, current, and personal - 3 of us have lived in Toronto.

I said it was another part of white privilege - being able to get food you're familiar with wherever you go (not that I'd eat a hotdog mind you). I see Johnston's point - people in power decide the laws. They can claim they're for your own health and safety, but honestly they can say whatever they want. That's the thing about power. (I think the rest is something like absolute and corruption but that's another tangent. Must keep this blog on track or I'll never get the rest of my work done.)

Some group members tried to say that "all that ethnic food" is difficult to prepare, maintain safe temperatures, etc etc - basically saying that yes, the bylaw that makes only hotdogs available is a good one. I remember back in about 1990, living in Toronto, there were a couple of corn on the cob vendors. I never had any (too poor for such extravagance) but I always thought they looked like sunshine - bright yellow kernels, leaves pulled back and spread wide wide for effect. The barbecue steam was wonderful too. I was so hungry in those days. . .

I'm going to Toronto in a few weeks and I wonder what I'll see - I'm sure I'll see all manner of processed meat things, maybe a couple of veggie dogs. Pop. and Water. What would I like to see? Mmmmm if I could get some dahl in a pita I'd buy it. Same goes for hummus. Majadara? How about an apple, washed and ready to bite into?

I think there *is* a race issue involved. And I wish we would have had more time and maybe a class discussion on topics like this. Because the group really needed to let go of this for sake of the project I really don't feel like I really heard the other opinions or evidence to support their arguments and I don' t really feel that I got mine out clearly.