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I expressed surprise to a friend that halal carts are so prevalent in nyc, whereas taco carts seem nearly non-existent, and he confidently told me that this is due to the halal foods being easier to prepare, since he thinks the different halal meats are made with the same seasonings, whereas preparing multiple taco fillings would be a lot more effort.

Is this true? I had assumed it was just some kind of culture / network effect thing in nyc, or that the current halal cart owners already had cornered the market on the licenses needed to operate food stalls.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks.

user49404
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  • Welcome to SA! First, how do you know that it's true that there's more? Maybe there's just more near you. Do you have any citywide stats? – FuzzyChef Dec 07 '21 at 05:59
  • I’m voting to close this question because it is about eating habits and preferences, and not about one of the topics of the site (visit the [help] for those). – rumtscho Dec 07 '21 at 11:21
  • I'd argue that it's about business demographics, but that still doesn't make it in scope. – FuzzyChef Dec 07 '21 at 21:02

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I can't speak to food truck demographics in NYC. But I can tell you that the "it's easier because you season everything the same way" argument just doesn't hold water.

First of all, different food items from what I think you're thinking of as a "halal cart" are seasoned very differently. Your friend is probably thinking of the prevalence of cumin in middle-eastern food, but there's a lot more going on than that. If you tried to take the flavorings one uses to make falafel, for instance, and use them to grill chicken, you'll end up with something burnt and underwhelming.

Secondly, one of the primary advantages of most "taco meats" -- in fact, arguably the key to the prevalence of tacos as a street food in Mexico -- is that they can be prepared in bulk, ahead of time. So you only really need to cook one at a time. It's not extra effort.

Finally, the idea that effort is directly proportional to how many "different seasonings" you need is just silly. Most of one's time in food prep is not spent seasoning things, it's spent cooking them. Getting in some variety by using different spices is the easy bit.

Sneftel
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