Mobile Mumbai

IMAGE: Mobile Mother Dairy, vending pasteurised milk, breads, and eggs. These images all come from the VeloWala website, an online archive of bicycle-based commerce created by Avinash Kumar of Quicksand, in partnership with B.L.O.T. (who also recently created a great...

Food Cart Factory

IMAGE: A city on a trike, Worksman Cycles, Queens, New York (all photos by Nicola Twilley unless otherwise noted). The oldest bike manufacturer in the U.S., Worksman Cycles, also happens to be the home of two American food vending icons: the Good Humor ice cream...

P. O. Bread Box

IMAGE: Damien Petit and his “Boîte A Pain,” photo by La Dépêche du Midi. Both natives and non-natives alike tend to agree that bread is central to French cuisine, history, and national identity. Indeed, Steven Kaplan, a Cornell University professor who has...

Mobile Libations

Today’s New York Times has a fascinating story on the relative popularity of different drinks on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North New York City commuter train routes. IMAGE: “Tracy Bonner, right, sold a drink to Kevin Davies of Port...

Food Truck Whack-A-Mole

One-minute idling ordinances. Restricted streets and inherited parking spots. Minimum pavement width. Health-department inspections. A $500 “refreshment vehicle assistant” licensing fee… IMAGE: New York City’s vending regulations book, photo by...