In case your memory needs a jingle, here's a list of Portland Breakfast Food Carts.
Hey, did you know that food carts boast a centuries-long history? No? Well, if your interest has been piqued (or youâre that special kind of nerd that canât choose between history and gastronomy) youâre in for a real treat.
Portland, as we all know, has perfected the food cart. But we didn't invent it. Breakfast: A History
has an entire chapter devoted to breakfasts eaten away from home, including the original food carts:
Pre-workday fast-food breakfasts are nothing new; they did not even originate in the 20th century. Victorian journalist Henry Mayhew described in London Labour and the London Poor (1851) the thousands of costermongers (street vendors) who walked into London in the pre-dawn hours and stopped at various coffee sellersâ carts or âearly breakfast stallsâ along the way to buy their breakfastââa couple of herrings, or a bit of bacon, or whatnot,â perhaps a sausage or an egg sandwiched in a bread roll called a bap. After swallowing the coffee or tea and returning the mug, a stall owner could then continue on to their own stall or wagon, eating as they went.
I donât know about you, but a sausage and egg in a bread roll still sounds right, even 150+ years after some wastrel starting hustling for a few shillings.
And it wasnât just the usual western-style fare being hucked by street vendors. In southern Burma, where fresh fish is plentiful, a catfish chowder called mohinga is considered by many to be the national dish. Based on archaeological evidence, mohinga may have been prepared since as early as the 1st century, and has been hawked by street vendors as an âall-day breakfastâ for at least a century.
Heather Arndt Anderson will be signing books and meeting readers at Wordstock on Saturday Oct 5 and Sunday Oct 6 so be sure to swing by her booth to say hello. Heather Arndt Anderson will also be hosting a free lecture at the Jack London Bar on Tues, October 1 at 6:30 pm
. The topic? Breakfasts From the Silver Screen to the Small Screen. You can bet Food Carts Portland will be there. Weâd love to meet you, so come on by and say hello.
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The Wordstock and Breakfast a History Contest Fine Print: The contest runs through Tues Oct 1, 2013 at 5pm when weâll pick two winners using our foolproof random winner online robot software. The prize includes one Breakfast: A History book and a pair of Wordstock Book Fair passes on Saturday and Sunday October 5 and 6. See above for contest details.
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