"Hunger is good discipline." - Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast.
The difference between Portland's food carts and Vancouver's food trucks is more than just semantics - there is an entire paradigm shift of cultural values invested in the process.
While the Vancouver food street scene seems to be a highly regulated affair Portland's cultural feast has developed organically in a somewhat more laissez-faire environment.
"It's evolved over many, many years starting with the Farm-to-table movement back in the '80s and '90s," says Brett Burmeister, owner and managing editor at foodcartsportland.com, a website devoted to the scene.
Food carts, loosely organized into pods on private property, began operation in downtown Portland several decades ago, says Burmeister. One of the first being at Fifth and Stark which has been continually in operation since the mid-80s.
"Vendors were looking for a place to set up and after awhile somebody approached a parking lot owner and said, 'Can I park on your lot?' and it evolved from there. Nobody came along and said, 'You can't do this.' It was a situation where it was essentially allowed by default."
Burmeister began his website in 2007 just in time to observe a cultural scene kicking into overdrive with a perfect mix of supply and demand.
"We really just embrace everything food and the food carts are an extension of that, "he says. "We started out with everybody's standard hot dog cart or bento cart in the '90s and then in the last five or six years it has evolved into an explosion of ethnic foods, artisanal cuisine, etc. and it continues to grow from there."
Initially the food cart pods were all in the downtown core but over the past decade the industry has branched out into other areas of the city.
"We've expanded over to our east side which is actually where our neighbourhoods are," says Burmeister. "We have a couple of developers who have taken under-utilized land and turned them into food cart pods. It's smaller than what's downtown where we have lots with 20 to 30 carts per lot - over on the east side it's much smaller in the range of three to ten per lot but that's really where we've seen most of the growth in the last five, six years."
According to Multnomah County records between 700 and 800 licenses have been issued for food carts, catering trucks and trucks that transport food. Burmeister estimates that from that total between 500 and 550 food carts operate throughout the city on any given day.
During the last decade Portland has seen its fair share of culinary superstars rise out of the food cart world. Perhaps no one has made more of a splash than Nong Poonsukwattana who arrived from her native Thailand and started her business with one chicken and rice dish - khao man gai.
"Traditional Thai street food that Nong has been able to turn into an empire," says Burmeister. "She will even admit that it's kind of a simple dish in her culture but now she has three locations, two physical food carts (in the Tenth and Alder pod and the Fourth and Hall, Portland State University pod), a commissary that she serves out of and a restaurant. According to news reports from late last year she was planning to expand to other cities this year so it's been a whirlwind growth for her in the last five years."
Last week it was announced that Cartopia, a late-night favourite at Hawthorne and 12th in southeast Portland, will close down later this year to make way for a new apartment complex.
Cartopia filled a niche that will be greatly missed says Burmeister. "There are multiple carts on a lot surrounding picnic tables and a tent. It'a a place to go and stay and hang out with your friends and enjoy food. That's what makes them so unique. The other vendors that are open late-night don't necessarily create that community space. They're traditional vendors serving out to the parking lot. You swing out to the sidewalk you grab your food and move on. That was really what Cartopia brought to the table, that community space they created."
Despite the loss of Cartopia and a few other pods this year the food cart scene remains a vibrant, continually-evolving cultural feast for the senses.
Burmeister has observed several trends developing so far in 2014. "We're seeing a few more carts move into restaurants and I hope that continues," he says. "It's like the next logical step for these vendors. We're seeing an influx of Mediterranean cuisine that we haven't seen in the past five or six years. I think in just the downtown alone we've added at least 10 Mediterranean vendors with a myriad of different cuisines from that region. We've continued to evolve in different ways - ask me that next year and it will be a completely different answer."
808 Grinds serving game day at Whitecaps' match in Portland:
Portland Timbers host food cart vendors during soccer games and at Sunday's match against the Whitecaps 808 Grinds will be serving their Hawaiian cuisine.
Brett Burmeister: "The Timbers have a specific concession stand that is for a food cart vendor and they've identified vendors to come in and take over the concession stand for a day. There's been Hawaiian, there's been Kow Man Gai, there's been Big Ass Sandwiches. You know the cost of food at stadiums is always high, like $9 for a hot dog. 808 does a full plate with salad, rice and good portion of their 808 pork or whatever, and it's $10, $11. It's the best value of food I've ever seen in a stadium where prices are generally higher - and they are one of those vendors who can manage the crowd really well. I have no idea how many plates they serve but most of the whole first half, including all the time before the game starts there are four or five lines of 30 or 40 people in each. They are one of the more popular vendors down there (808grinds.com)."
