ottawa foodies

CBC: New street treats approved for Ontario

Street vendors in Ontario will be allowed to expand their menus beyond the usual offering of hot dogs and sausages, the province announced Saturday. [...]

www.cbc.ca

About time! The article mentions salads, precooked and reheated food like pizza and samosas, and baked goods, but it's going to depend on city bylaws too.

Woohoo! It's a step in the right direction.

On a peripherally related note, does anyone know of a way to access hygiene inspection reports for Ottawa restaurants?

Toronto forces restaurants to post their latest report on the door for public view. Victoria posts everything online, allowing you to search for any restaurant: www.healthspace.com

I'd love something like Victoria's system. But it seems all we have is a measly PR blurb: ottawa.ca

*quietly cheers*

Bring on the falafel carts, taco stands, roti trucks, meat-on-a-stick vendors, etc!!! This is long awaited move in the RIGHT direction!

totally long overdue!

I've always regarded street food as some of the best food I've had when growing up or travelling in Asia. And it seems that everywhere else on the planet is on it except us.

*WOOT* :D

But the article linked seemed to suggest that while more things were allowed, there was still an "official list", and to me it did not look like there was much interesting on that official list of what's allowed. Seems silly to have an "official list of street food"

I had also heard that story on CBC and the "official list of street food". It seems like most of what they are offering is salads and fruits which I already eat regularly at home. When I eat out I like to offer myself the odd indulgence and that includes occasionally eating some artery clogging deep fried foods. Toronto has some interesting street foods and I fondly remember buying crepes from a cart while visiting Paris in my student days. I am also interested in how the city will handle the inspection of these foods - the ecoli recently found in spinach comes to mind... When I was growing up in Montreal the city inspectors used to publish their reports in the local papers. It seems like public announcements of passing and failing grades prompted the restaurants to clean up faster than fines did.