Street Food Icons
Street Food Icons is Vice’s most viewed digital series of 2019 and 2020 and the third most popular video series in history across Vice’s digital platforms.
When you pass a street food vendor on a crowded city street, it’s easy to walk by without considering their story. Street Food Icons is a series that shines a light on the journeys of street food vendors who form the lifeblood of their communities.
The Barbacoa Queen of Los Angeles
Petra Zavaleta is the chef behind Barbakush, a street food operation that serves traditional lamb barbacoa in Los Angeles, by way of Puebla, Mexico. Petra, her husband, and her sons work together to create their lamb barbacoa, which is a true labor of love. They break down an entire lamb and build a traditional underground barbecue oven in their backyard.
The Biggest Tortas in NYC
Galdino Molinero and his wife Lilia run Tortas Neza, a food truck in Corona, Queens that sells massive tortas. What begins as a story about supersized sandwiches transforms into story of hard work, family, and love.
The Legendary Dosa Man of NYC
Thiru Kumar, AKA the Dosa Man, has been running NY Dosas, a food cart in Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park, since 2001. His dosas, which are made from fermented rice and lentils, and stuffed with potatoes, vegetables and spicy sauces, have become an international phenomenon.
The Dollar Tamale Queen of New York
Evelia Coyotzi has been selling dollar tamales in Corona, Queens since 2001. Her team starts every day around 9 PM, cooking through the night, so that by 4 AM, they're outside the Junction Boulevard subway stop vending her tamales.
The Patron Saint of Street Food in South Central LA
Keith Garrett of All Flavor No Grease sells his take on Mexican street food out of his food truck in South Central Los Angeles. He makes quesadillas, tacos, and burritos filled with chicken, steak, shrimp, or all three. Keith was a drug dealer and self described hustler before starting All Flavor No Grease.
Based in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights in Los Angeles, people come far and wide for the tacos at family-owned Carnitas El Momo, and its beloved owner, El Momo. The carnitas are made from pork which confit in pork lard and are made up of pork butt, stomach, and skins.
The Taco Master of East LA
Chef Tami Treadwell, known as "The Seafood Lady" to her customers, serves up soul food and Black excellence to the people of Harlem with her food truck Harlem Seafood Soul. Tami takes as much pride in her passed-down recipes as she does the NYC neighborhood where she was born and raised.
The Soul Food Lady of Harlem
Kenneth McKenzie runs McKenzie’s Fresh Fish and Conch Shack, a popular oceanfront seafood shack set on the pristine waters of Nassau, Bahamas. Kenneth, who learned to cook as a child, serves up shrimp, lobster, and snapper, but the star menu item is fresh conch pulled right out of the water.
The Conch King of The Bahamas
Dee Dee is a Northern Thai Street Food truck located in Austin, Texas started by Lakana and Justin Trubiana. Their menu consists of items like pad kaprow (stir fried pork with fried Thai basil and fried egg), som tom (papaya salad), and gai yang (Thai roast chicken). You won’t be finding any pad thai or fried rice at Dee Dee, as all of their recipes are Northern specialties from Lakana’s home region of Isan.
Thai Food Queen of Austin
The Lechón King of the South Bronx
Angel "Piraña" Jimenez has been serving his legendary Puerto Rican lechón, or roasted suckling pig, to the South Bronx for 20 years. He uses a traditional machete to cut his adobo-seasoned pork, before serving it with a roasted banana, pigeon pea rice, and garlic mojito sauce.
$2 Burgers in Harlem
Mo's Burgers in Harlem is a neighborhood staple. Mo Robinson Jr. has been serving the greater Harlem community for over 30 years, whipping up burgers, hot dogs, sausages, and punch right outside the barbershop that he owns. Everyone in the neighborhood knows Mo.
Jerk Chicken in the Bronx
Fauzia Abdur-Rahman has been serving Jamaican food in the South Bronx from her cart Fauzia's Heavenly Delights, right outside the courthouse, for the last 25 years. The menu changes every day, but there are always two meat options, a fish option and three vegetarian options.
Mama Jo is NYC's Grandmother of Breakfast
Mama Jo has been serving breakfast staples like bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and omelets as well as traditional Greek pastries, such as spanakopita and baklava, from her food truck in Midtown Manhattan for over 35 years. She claims to be NYC's oldest street food vendor and isn't planning on retiring her legendary food cart any time soon.
Eden Gebre Egziabher owns and operates Makina Cafe, the first and only Eritrean and Ethiopian food truck in New York City. Eden immigrated from Ethiopia after she was forced to leave the country amidst the Ethiopian-Eritrean War as a teenager. Now she uses Makina as a way to preach unity between the two African nations.
The Only Ethiopian Food Truck in NYC
Winston Miranda is the chef of one of the only Garifuna restaurants in all of the US. Winston’s passion and pride lies in the cuisine of the Garifuna people, the descendants of Africans and Arawaks originally from St. Vincent.
LA’s Only Garifuna Food Truck
Chef Tomas Matsufuji serves up some of Lima's freshest ceviche at Al Toke Pez in Lima, Peru. Al Toke Pez serves high-quality ingredients at affordable prices in an unpretentious spot where diners can eat-in at the bar or take their food to-go.
Peru’s Seafood Master
At Divine Flavored Nigerian Food Truck, Godshelter and Bisola Oluwalogbon serve Nigerian cuisine outside the Nigerian Consulate in Midtown Manhattan. Their most popular dish is their goat meat jolloff rice, but they also make local specialities like moimoi, gizzdodo, efo elegusi, and peppered snail.
Nigerian Specialties in Midtown
Jose Luis Perez Mendez, better known as El Primo, is king of breakfast tacos in Austin, TX. He's been selling street tacos for over 14 years in Austin. He sells chorizo, ham, migas and bean and cheese breakfast tacos as well as traditional carne asada, al pastor and barbacoa street tacos to his clientele in South Austin.
Texas-Sized Street Tacos
King of Falafel & Shawarma has been serving mouthwatering Middle Eastern cuisine on the streets of Astoria for the last 17 years. The falafel recipe, with its unique oval shape, is a guarded secret of owner Freddy Zeideia, who mastered it with techniques he learned while growing up in Palestine.
The King of Falafel
With over 60 vendors throughout Manhattan, the Nuts 4 Nuts carts are a New York City street food staple. Co-owner Alejandro Rad explains how he brought these Argentinian inspired honey-roasted nuts to America, and how he turned Nuts 4 Nuts into an iconic New York snack.
The Roasted Nut Carts of NYC
Hidden away in the back of Chinatown’s Kekaulike market you will find the freshest and tastiest poke spot in Honolulu, Hawaii. Brothers Junichiro and Ryojiro Tsuchiya took what they learned in Japan as fishmongers and opened up a poké stall, aptly named Maguro Brothers. They visit the local fish market every morning to pick out the best fresh fish, used to serve up super fresh sashimi, grilled fish, and ahi poke over rice.
The Poke Brothers of Honolulu
Arnaldo Barcellos, known as The Sushi Man, is the most talked about sushi vendor in all of Rio de Janeiro. Arnaldo serves high-quality sashimi, nigiri, and maki roll at fresh markets all across Rio. He makes his sushi from tuna, salmon, octopus, haddock, shrimp and more. A 42 year veteran of the fish market, Arnaldo has wowed the people of Rio with his unique offerings, restaurant quality preparations, and his unforgettable charm.
The Street Sushi of Rio de Janeiro