Toronto has the best hot dog vendors in the world.

Bold claim, I know, but everyone I know that comes to Toronto and has our street meat is always thoroughly impressed.

I’ve always wondered, however, that if we can do such a good job with hot dogs, why can’t we make other types of culinary masterpieces on our streets?

In New York, I’ve bought gyros from street vendors.

In Mauritius, I’ve eaten dhaal puri from guys pushing carts in the street.

In Hong Kong, I’ve had everything from buns to dim sum to satay on the street.

Well, it turns out that in Toronto, there are some serious restrictions on street food vendors, meaning our choices for a quick bite from a cart is pretty much limited to hot dogs and sausages. A lot of people are working hard to change that, but until now, the situation remains grim.

Early last week, I asked some of my online friends what they’d like to see being sold from street food vendors.

As you can see from the graph below (click on it to see the larger view), people have a lot of appetite (no pun intended) for new types of street food in the city.

Samosas, skewered meat, and roti are definitely crowd favorites, as are things like fruits and vegetables. All of them seem relatively easy to do from a street vendor cart too, so let’s hope we see some of them come to Toronto streets soon.

Thanks to John Dupuis, Richard Akerman, Alexa Clark, Michele Perras, Moira Fogarty, Catherine M, Krista Janicki, Mark Raheja, Joyce T, Colin Chan, Iris Ng, Justin Whitaker, Marya, and lots of other people that answered for their input.

Do you have your own thoughts? Share them here!