From waffles to hot dogs, lamb kebabs to tacos, bagels to bibimbap, knish to bratwurst to soft ice, the delicious food sold on New York’s streets is endless. With more than 3,000 food carts offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the millions of hungry people in the city, you can find dishes and vendors from all over the world.

Running a food cart is a tough job. Vendors get up early in the morning to clean and polish their carts and stock them with fresh ingredients and beverages. Then they push or pull their carts to the street corner where they spend all day cooking, rain or shine. When it gets really busy at breakfast and lunch, the vendor’s zip through their orders so their customers don’t get impatient and go to another cart.

Most of the food carts in NYC are run by immigrants who came to the United States hoping for a better life, many either because there was no work in their home country or because they had to flee a war. Running a food cart is an opportunity to own their own business and make a living, although not all food cart vendors earn enough to pay all their bills.

New York City is a city of immigrants. In the rest of the United States, only every tenth person was born in a different country, but every third person living in NYC was born in a foreign country. That’s why many people say NYC is a true melting pot. Others say it’s a mosaic of different cultures. What do you think NYC is like? Discuss with your parents why immigrants make New York City what it is.