Measuring an urban street food environment – a method to assess street food vendors, and data, from the Bronx

INTRODUCTION: Street food vendors may be an important aspect of urban food environments, yet they have been understudied. Methods are needed to conduct street-food-vendor assessments. We describe a method, and findings, from a street-food-vendor assessment in the Bronx. METHODS: Using Google-generated street maps, bilingual (English/Spanish) researchers drove the entire Bronx looking for street food vendors. Researchers recorded a unique identifier for each vendor, descriptions of items being sold, general observations, and asked vendors questions about where and when they sell. RESULTS: Two researchers needed 40 days to canvass the entire Bronx (42 square miles). Of 372 vendors identified, 40% could not be interviewed (48% in transit, 42% refused, 5% absent from their carts, 3% with customers). Of the interviews that did occur, 6% were limited by vendor reluctance/nervousness (mostly concern for regulatory authority), 5% by language barriers. Three quarters of vendors were most comfortable speaking Spanish; 5% preferred other non-English languages. There was considerable variability in times (months, days, hours) and locations (neighborhoods, boroughs) that vendors sold, with weather playing a significant role for 86% of vendors. Only 34% of vendors had visible permits/vending licenses, and many had improvised, illegitimate set-ups. DISCUSSION: Unlike restaurants and stores that generally have stable, legitimate presences in urban food environments, street food vendors are characterized by more fluid, and sometimes unlawful, presences. Fluidity in hours and location, and vendor reluctance to interact with individuals gathering data are principal challenges to collecting information about street food vendors. We will discuss strategies to overcome such challenges.