840: Mohamed Attia Sold Street Smoothies in Times Square. Now He Shapes Vending Policy.

Mohamed Attia (0:08)

If you sit up near the Hudson Yards and you're a few inches closer to the crosswalk, the police officers will show up in a heartbeat. It will take them like five minutes to show up, write you a ticket, and even seize your cart. But if you want to get a license, you're going to wait 25 years. So like this is the stark difference in how the whole system is set up against the vendors to make them fail.

Matt Rodbard (0:29)

This is TASTE. I'm your host, Matt Rodbard. Mohamed Attia spent nearly a decade running a food cart in Times Square before he became the person fighting to change the law that made carts like his semi-legal in the first place. As managing director of the Street Vendor Project, Attia helped lead the campaign that finally broke a New York City vending permit cap that had been frozen since 1979 On this episode, I speak with Mohamed about his path from vendor to advocate, and we go over so many of the great carts to visit in New York City. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Mohamed Attia, welcome to This Is TASTE. So great to meet you.

Mohamed Attia (1:15)

Thank you. Thank you, Matt, for having me. It's great to be here.

Matt Rodbard (1:17)

I'm excited to speak with you. You are an executive at the Street Vendor Project. You're running the show, and you have a great story to tell.

I'm so happy that we can talk about some fundraising initiatives, some work you've done with city government here in New York City, and of course, all the great vendors of New York. Before we get to all of that though, where have you been dining out in New York as of late?

Mohamed Attia (1:44)

That's a great question. So I've been having a few great spots, but the most recent is Jiang's Kitchen at St. Mark's Place. It's a really great restaurant, kind of like halal Chinese cuisine, kind of like really spicy, but really delicious. So it's a real gem, and it's hidden there.

Matt Rodbard (2:04)

I love St. Mark's right now in 2026 There's so many great spots. It's been like, you know, really, I mean, Bauhaus, of course, opened Eddie Wong's place, but many other smaller places.

It's always exciting to walk down St. Mark's.

Mohamed Attia (2:17)

Super, super. And you get the desserts, you get all the different spaces too. It's like amazing.

Matt Rodbard (2:22)

When you're talking about Street Vendors, do you have like a rotation that you're on yourself as, I know you're visiting, and we'll talk all about your work, but you're visiting these folks all the time, but do you have a favorites or anyone that you hit up?

Mohamed Attia (2:34)

I do, and it always gets me in trouble, because I always have to be cautious with who I'm promoting. But yeah, I have a lot of favorites. But honestly, like in downtown, near my office by Wall Street area, it is definitely San Falafel, the Biryani House, who was a Vendee's finalist back in I think 2010 A lot of amazing vendors out there who are just providing really delicious food that is also very affordable and quick to get in downtown Manhattan. Another thing, it cannot be a secret, but Biryalandia, they are exploding all over the city. I would just be not so hungry, and I would just drive by, and I'm like, hey, Biryalandia is here. You just pause, there is always room in your stomach for two tacos quickly, and you just grab it and you go.

It's an amazing experience to just be in the streets.

Matt Rodbard (3:24)

Incredible, the expansion of Biryalandia. It's so cool, so cool to see.

Mohamed Attia (3:30)

Super.

Matt Rodbard (3:30)

Well, I want to ask you about the Street Vendor Project. For our audience, and particularly those not living in New York City, tell us a little bit about the organization and yourself as the managing director, who you are working for and who you are helping with all the work that you're doing.

Mohamed Attia (3:47)

Sure. So, the Street Vendor Project was founded back in 2001 on this idea and concept of organizing the Street Vendor community, making sure they have a voice in the city. At the time, a lot of the policies and rules that were made were basically so hostile and pretty much working against the vendors, banning them the right to exist in so many locations, restricting so many streets, just wholesale restrictions. All these areas are like off limits to street vendors. That destroyed the livelihood of thousands of people and of course, impacted a lot of New Yorkers who rely on these vendors on their everyday work.