Portland Food Carts

One of my favorite aspects of Portland is the abundance of food carts throughout the city. This is a phenomenon that I never experienced in Denver, aside from the occasional hot dog vendor here and there. I don't know why Denver doesn't have them or how Portland came to be such a hot spot. Portland has all kinds of food carts including those that cater exclusively to vegetarians, a Belgian frites cart that is open until 3am, a Waffle cart, and your more runofthemill hotdog vendors.

My friend Peter finished his Masters in Urban and Regional Planning last spring. For his final project he and a few other people put together a research project looking at the significance of Portland's food carts in terms of "street vitality and neighborhood livability." Not surprisingly, they found that food carts offer many benefits to the areas they are located in.

As they say, "The findings indicate that food carts have significant community benefits to neighborhood livability by fostering social interac􀆟ons, walkability, and by providing interim uses for vacant parcels. Addi􀆟onally, carts provide good employment opportuni􀆟es for
immigrants and low-income individuals to begin their own businesses, although there are significant barriers to con􀆟nued stability and success."

If you are interested in reading the full study, the document can be found here:
Food Cart Study

Interested in reading food cart reviews for Portland? Check out this Blog: Food Carts Portland