Be it tacos, shawarma, or the classic dirty water dog, any true New Yorker knows some of the city’s best food is found along its sidewalks (but not on them — very important distinction.) We’re talking street meat, people: delicious, delectable street meat, sizzling atop grills caked inches-deep in grease or soaking in mysterious vats of lukewarm gray water. It is the best. The end.
And soon enough, you may not have to deal with the guilt hangover that comes with contemplating the source of that meat — well after you’ve already eaten it, of course. Thanks to a new city-wide initiative, food carts will become lot more sustainable come Memorial Day, The Wall Street Journal reports:
In the coming months, a new fleet of food carts is expected to hit the streets: hundreds of sleek mobile kitchens equipped with refrigerators and sinks and powered by solar panels, alternative fuel and rechargeable batteries.
In a pilot program set to be announced on Monday, MOVE Systems is providing 500 free carts, called MRV100 Hybrids, to vendors across the city, in partnership with the City Council.
“What’s the quality of the air I’m breathing? What’s the quality of the food I’m eating? These are the problems we’re trying to solve,” said James Meeks, chief executive of MOVE, the Queens-based company that developed the carts. “I hope there will be an opportunity for even more culinary options than exist today.”
I’ll take one of everything — and an industrial-sized bottle of Tums to go, while I’m at it. Sustainability guilt, sadly, isn’t the only hazard of street meat consumption.
