Ideas@TheCentre
A vibrant street food culture is as simple as ABC
Jessica Brown |
09 April 2010
By the time the 2012 show rolls around, Sydneysiders will be able to choose their poison based not only on the heart attack factor (deep fried cheesecake, anyone?) but also on how well the proprietor complies with food safety regulations.
Restaurants, cafes and other food outlets – such as the hotdog vans – will be awarded an A, B or C grade, which they can prominently display. Although the system is not compulsory, it is expected that most will take part.
But while scores on doors might make life easier for consumers, it also highlights the mind-boggling array of rules that food vendors must comply with. Setting up a food stall is an expensive and complicated process. The NSW Food Authority sets rules for mobile food vendors about the type of walls, floors, ceilings, and doors they should have. Wash basins must have a 300mm splashback. The list goes on.
Perhaps this is why the contrast between our cities and other cities with great street food is so stark.
Naples might be filthy and corrupt, but if you want a slice of good pizza that’s where you go. All through the night, Mumbai’s brightly lit Chowpatty Beach throngs with crowds lining up to buy fried snacks such as the ubiquitous pani puri. And across Southeast Asia, little old ladies set up roadside carts night after night pumping out satays, noodles, soups and pretty much anything else you can think of.
Less regulation means it is cheaper for people to set up and operate a food stall. Individuals, not regulators, make decisions about what is safe to eat by relying on reputation and common sense: buying from vendors where the food looks fresh and where regulars eat.
Food safety is a serious business and most of the rules are there for good reasons. But by making food stalls easier to set up, and leaving more of the decision-making power in the hands of individual consumers, perhaps we could move a step closer to developing a vibrant street food culture like those in so many great cities overseas.
Jessica Brown is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies.
