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rfmcdonaldI remain as stunned that Montréal has apparently copied Toronto's terribly dysfunctional model for food trucks (here, as reported by the Montreal Gazette's Riley Sparks) as I was back in May.
Local culinary institutions Au Pied de Cochon and St-Viateur Bagel will join Montreal street food pioneers Grumman 78 and 24 other restaurants in the streets Thursday as the city’s 66-year-long ban on food trucks ends.
[. . .]
People hoping for a simple steamie or pretzel will have to look elsewhere — the 27 trucks operating will offer only somewhat more sophisticated foods.
Vendors were selected from 31 candidates who applied last year. A selection committee narrowed the list to 27, considering the “creativity and originality” of the dishes and quality of the ingredients used, the city explained in a statement Wednesday.
Some food trucks, including Nomade SO6 and P.A. & Gargantua, had been able to skirt the city’s ban by operating only while parked on private property.
The now-overturned rules prohibited vendors from operating on public property unless given a specific permit.
Food trucks have been banned in the city since 1947, when mayor-to-be Jean Drapeau declared them unsanitary and undignified. A few years later, after his election in 1954, he would raze most of the vegetation around Mount Royal in an effort to discourage Montrealers from fooling around in the bushes.
The trees grew back, but the street meat ban remained for more than half a century.
