Street Food

I was walking Ace, the fearsome watchdog at Abandoned Pet Rescue, and he got me thinking of all the street food I've eaten over the years. I've always been a fan of food obtained from a rickety cart or shack that's been slapped together and plopped down in a vacant lot. There was a hot dog vendor who sat on a corner, on the north side of Chicago, that I always could count on for a quick snack. And when I drove a taxi cab thirty years ago, one of my favorite late night meals was a pork chop sandwich that I would get from a shack on Maxwell Street. The neighborhood was a little scary at that hour, but I think the smell of fear added to the flavor. Those sandwiches were quite delicious, all smothered in fried onions, the only drawback was that the pork chop still had the bone in it. That made eating them a little tricky, but worth the extra work. And of course if you are ever in New York, you must have a Sabrett from a cart. Never mind that it's been sitting in that dirty water for an indeterminate length of time, they taste great, and you can deal with the consequences later with a little Pepto.

How did Ace get me on the subject of street food? While walking him down the swath of grass alongside the railroad tracks, Ace grabbed something off the ground and started munching madly. It must have been something good because he continued chewing all the way back to his cage at the shelter. I know, I should have taken it away from him. The only trouble with that, is Ace would have ripped my hand off the end of my arm and eaten that too.

Why do dogs have such low standards for what they will eat off of the street? They will grab a rotting squirrel corpse and devour it as if it was a delicacy, yet the dog food in their bowl will sit for hours as if we were forcing them to eat prison gruel. This all gives me an idea for a commercial dog food. Imagine going to the super market and picking up a twenty pound bag of 'dog food' consisting of rotting rodent bodies, squished lizards, and tasty nuggets of dried cat poop. Your dog will love you.