Dumplings for Democracy (10 short observations and talking to folks)

This past weekend I decided to prototype an idea I have for my Public Interfaces class. For this class, it was suggested that we create a project that relates to our thesis, in the hope that it contributes insight to our year-long thesis journey. My thesis will be centered around politics and how I can create a tool for casual voters or non-voters to find candidates whom align best with their principles, in the hope that they use the power of their vote to make a difference in an increasingly fractured partisan nation.

So for Public Interfaces, I’m interested in a food truck space as the public domain with the assumption that food is non-partisan. Good food attracts anyone, regardless of political affiliation or agnosticism. Could this be a good space to raise political awareness?

I decided to do a quick and dirty prototype of my idea. I made a large banner that read ‘DUMPLINGS FOR DEMOCRACY’ which I would tape on to my Subaru after finding a good spot at, I decided, the Red Hook Food Vendors. It had been years since I had been there. When we lived in Brooklyn, it would be a frequent stop on the way to driving to IKEA or Fairway. Now the area has exploded with gentrification. Whole Foods and Trader Joes is nearby and, as I found out later, there are much less food trucks these days due to an entire field that was closed due to lead contamination. I spoke with the director of the RHFV and he told me that for decades Hispanics and Latinos have been using the fields to play soccer and have BBQs. No one discovered lead then. But in the last 5 years, since the area became gentrified, lo and behold the lead suddenly became an issue. He wondered what about the families that were exposed to the lead for decades. What happens to them? Does anyone even care?

I brought my 11 year old son as my wingman. The weather was great perfect. The first official day of fall. We drove around looking for parking. I noticed a nice empty space with traffic cones between the two main food trucks. (There are only four food trucks left now that the field has closed) I was able to describe our little experiment, explaining that we weren’t actually selling food. Marco, the director kindly obliged after he told us he had to make sure because the other vendors would complain if we didn’t pay the $100 fee for the day. We were just there to observe.. I later interviewed him which I will speak about shortly.

So we set up our makeshift fake food truck (or food station wagon) and unfurled our sign. We set up a small table with a portable burner and wok. I had brought actual frozen dumplings in a cooler so that we could actually do some cooking to look more believable. On our table we taped some small signs saying: REGISTER TO VOTE, 5 for $3!, LEARN ABOUT CANDIDATES. And then we sat and observed.

1. The pupusa truck next to ours was clearly the main attraction of the vendors. Marco, the director of the vendors also happened to manage the pupusa truck. We waited a whole 2 hours before we finally had to get some for ourselves. Wow, they are good. In the meantime we cooked some dumplings and ate them as snacks.
2. The main demographic for the food trucks are Hispanic families with a sprinkling of hipster foodies and older Brooklynites. Only one Hispanic person, out of many whom lined up during the 3 hours we were there stopped to ask us about the candidates.
3. We didn’t get that much action at all. We got looks from everybody. It seemed people knew exactly what they wanted, which were the pupusas. Maybe if we had been an actual food truck, we would have gotten some business.
4. I actually made some dumplings for one starving Latino guy who ordered some dumplings from us. He was disappointed after we said we were just conducting an experiment and so I made some for him with the caveat that he fill out my survey. I don’t think he’s filled it out yet but he did say that when we actually started a food truck he would definitely come because our dumplings were delicious.
5. I asked Marco at the end why no Latinos seemed interested in our concept. He said that Latinos in general don’t vote. And even if they did register, there would be very little chance they would actually vote. He was concerned about that as he seemed very politically minded himself but he didn’t know the answer.
6. He said that some people may be undocumented. He also professed to being quite religious. He hated Trump but he also felt the Democrats’ platform on abortion didn’t speak to his personal beliefs.
7. He loved our idea. He said anywhere you have food, people will come and even for politics, it’s smart to have food as the gateway.
8. Only people to ask about the politics were 3 caucasians.
9. We had some caucasians take pictures of us and smile.
10. I recommend a visit to the Red Hook Food Vendors. Get the Pork and Cheese as well as Loroco Flower and Cheese Pupusas with a cold cup of cashew juice as well as an Arepa Con Queso from one of the other trucks.

I think choosing the Red Hook Vendors was interesting but since I am not focusing on the Latino vote, maybe a more diverse space such as Brooklyn Smorgasburg or even a music festival would be great spaces to explore next. People were not mad at us. They just clearly wanted pupusas.

In speaking w Marco, I learned a great deal about the food vendor scene as well as the issues that Latinos have with voting. Many feel that politicians don’t speak for them. He said Obama didn’t do anything for them and so they feel like their vote doesn’t really matter.