NEW FARE
The new offerings on Toronto's streets and where to get them:
Thai: Pad Thai with fresh rolls (Mel Lastman Square)
Afghan/Central Asian: Chapli kebabs (Metro Hall)
Central Asian/Persian: Biryani (Nathan Phillips Square)
Korean: Bulgogi with seasonal kimchi (Yonge and Eglinton)
Caribfusion: Jerk chicken (Yonge and St. Clair)
The city is in the process of relocating three other vendors, with Middle Eastern, Eritrean and Greek offerings.
STAFF REPORTER
On weekdays, Bridgette Pinder gets up at 6 a.m. She makes salads, ensures she has enough water and gas for the day, and cleans her nearly 1,000-pound food cart.
She leaves her Malton house at 9:30 a.m. behind the wheel of her blue van, towing the cart on a trailer. An hour later, she arrives at the southeast corner of Yonge St. and St. Clair Ave., unloads the cart, ties on a white apron and opens for business, ready to sell her jerk chicken wraps.
After 20 years as a social worker, the friendly 52-year-old left her career to join Toronto a la Cart, a city pilot project aimed at bringing food more diverse than the traditional hot dog to city streets. She refinanced her house to raise the $50,000 she says she's invested in the project, and to help sustain her and 11-year-old son Jaon while she waits for her new business to turn a profit.
She says she made the move to get outside and spend more time with people. "I love the community, they've been really warm and embracing," she says. "I love meeting the public."
Toronto a la Cart's eight vendors first hit the streets a little under two months ago, more than a year and a half after the city's first proposal for bringing diverse food to the streets.
From the start, the city came under attack for creating bureaucracy instead of allowing the marketplace to decide what would work.
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