© copyright "The Popcorn Vendor" is held by Barry Oretsky and the image is courtesy of Rehs Galleries, Inc., New York City If you are old enough to vote, you will recall being delighted by the sight of the once ubiquitous popcorn vendors as they plyed their trade around town. There usually was a flotilla of them close to the steps of the ROM, St. Lawrence Market and the Princes' Gates during Exhibition time.
Perhaps we were tickled by the mildly absurd notion of someone navigating a huge glass box of fluff across the city. Like bassist Tommy Potter bebop-ing down 44th Street "with his most unwieldy bass...about to angle over to the south side of the street" in Billy Collins' poem Man Listening To Disc, these bulk popped-cargo freighters shared something both loud and confidential to sidewalk amblers.
Like the ambivalence to the painted trucks of Pakistan, India and South America, what does Toronto's abandonment of decorated sidewalk food transport say about our culture?
Recent amendments to the Ontario Food Premises Regulation (O. Regulation 562) seek to "help street food vendors be more creative in their menu offerings".
But who is going to help them bring back the jewel case on wheels?
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