Stuck on an island with nothing but authentic food from all corners of the world –– sounds like a figment of your wildest imaginations, but, really, it’s just an accurate rendition of the Vendy Awards, held last September on Governor’s Island.

 

The annual cooking competition, where 25 street vendors were nominated to battle it out for the title of the city’s best street eats, was a celebration of culture, cuisine and diversity –– due to strict laws and policing, that is almost unheard of for the mostly immigrant street vendors.

 

Ticket proceeds went to the Street Vendor Project, an organization that fights for vendors’ rights. “All these street vendors you see around you, most of them don’t have permits,” the co-director of the project, Mohamad Attia, said at the event. He was referring to a 1980s law that placed a cap on vending permits, making it near impossible to obtain one, thereby prompting most vendors, especially immigrant ones, to work illegally. The current political climate, too, only adds fuel to the fire –– President Trump's calls for the deportation of immigrants, as well as increased unprecedented ICE arrests has tainted these small NYC street vendors with impending fear. “They are struggling a lot with the rules and regulations, being harrassed by the police every single day,” Attia said.

 

The event, then, where children and friends danced to live DJ-spun music as plates of food circulated, was a breath of fresh air for these vendors, whose daily lives are far from happy-go-lucky. Attendees, whose tickets covered an entire day’s worth of pigging out, cart-hopped from one vendor to the other. Judges also sampled bites from each cart to determine the winners of each category, which included best market, breakfast, rookie, and dessert vendors, as well as the most prestigious Vendy Cup.

 

Watch the video to meet some of the vendors sharing their cultures through cooking, and to learn a little more about the Street Vendor Project.