{"id":1028,"date":"2025-05-15T00:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T04:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2025-10-11T13:35:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T17:35:34","slug":"more-than-chicken-over-rice-the-true-story-behind-nycs-halal-carts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/2025\/05\/15\/more-than-chicken-over-rice-the-true-story-behind-nycs-halal-carts\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than Chicken Over Rice: The True Story Behind NYC\u2019s Halal Carts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m sure, like almost every New Yorker, you- the reader \u2013 have eaten halal. Or, at the very least you can create an image in your head when I mention halal or halal carts. What do you think of? The classic chicken over rice? The typical, \u201cextra white sauce and a little red sauce too please.\u201d Or a truck blaring Arabic hits. You\u2019re probably thinking of the product, the result. What if I told you there\u2019s so much more halal than you\u2019ve ever thought of. That there\u2019s so much more to the word halal. Halal is driven by the rules that guide it- the religious and legal. This article will explore what halal truly means, how NYC food cart permit laws are taken advantage of by scammers, and how, despite these rules and constraints, halal dishes were born on the streets of New York with a lot of cultural expression and creative flair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New York Success Story, Built by Immigrants<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Halal cart\u2019s success are driven by the immigrants that run them. Muslim and middle eastern immigration to NYC began in the 70\u2019s and dramatically increased in the 80\u2019s with growing unrest in the middle east. Halal carts first made their way to the streets of New York City in the 90\u2019s with the famous Halal Guys cart. They started off by selling typical NYC street food- their menu included hot dogs, fries, and pretzels- but prepared halal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As muslim immigration continued to rise in the late 90\u2019s and early 2000\u2019s, the original Halal Guys transformed their menu to include more middle eastern and mediterranean dishes. This is what these carts serve today, and where we get to see cultural expressions born from the religious rules of halal food. With the influx of immigrants, there was an increase in halal carts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I decided to get an up-close look at these trucks for myself \u2013 as though I haven\u2019t been ordering chicken over rice for years. As I walked up Second Avenue I was hit by the beautiful smell almost immediately. Muhammad, a worker at this truck on 83rd St. and 2nd Ave., greeted me with a smile and the typical \u201cwhat can I do for you Habibi.\u201d I have conversed with Muhammad many times over the past few months as this truck has turned into my go-to, starting with when Muhammad recognized my Egyptian features. Later, I gave Muhammad the life-altering news that I am the son of Egyptian immigrants who does not know a lick of Arabic. An immigrant himself, he knows the importance of passing on your culture to your kin. We have, since, developed a cordial relationship. Today was different from our typical small talk, though. Today I wanted to know more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Religious Ritual to Street Corner Staple<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To start, I wanted to understand what halal means \u2013 particularly to New Yorkers. There is a specific religious definition for the word, as it comes from Islam. Halal is an Arabic word that literally means \u201clawful\u201d or \u201cpermitted\u201d food. That being, food that is permitted by the Qur\u2019an as \u201choly\u201d to consume. Halal food must follow many guidelines to be considered as such. The rule of thumb \u2013 everything is halal except ABCD, which is haram (forbidden). ABCD stands for specific exceptions: A means alcohol, B is for blood, C is for carnivorous animals, and D is for \u201cdead meat\u201d, meaning meat not slaughtered according to Islamic rituals. Any foods that contain the ABCD\u2019s are haram and cannot be eaten according to Islamic law. So, any restaurant, grocery store, or food service can serve food that is halal; and food from any culture can be considered halal as long as it follows the halal guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The most stringent of halal rules: the butchering of the meats. Image is in the public domain. Courtesy: Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, with the rise of halal carts in New York, the word has transformed into something more than just a religious food requirement. We have seen it become synonymous with the trucks themselves, and the food they serve. It has been disconnected from its religious roots and has been thrusted into the mainstream. When we hear halal today, we do not think of the Qur\u2019an or the Islamic prayers used to bless the food, we think of falafel in those iconic plastic containers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disconnect between what halal really means and what it means in modern New Yorker culture can be seen as detrimental and beneficial to Islamic and middle eastern culture. It is detrimental because it is inherently white washing: stripping a culture of the true meanings of its words by the white American- essentially commodifying a culture\u2019s food for the benefit of the rich (or those who are not working paycheck to paycheck as most halal truck workers are). However, it can also serve the purpose of making Americans more accustomed and accepting of Islamic culture. Islamophobia has been on the rise post 9\/11 and has not slowed down fueled by the rise of right-wing extremism in America. In the words of Muhammad Abbas, a halal truck worker on the Upper East Side, \u201cif people [are] com[ing] to my truck and eating my food, why be mad?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scams, Permits, and the Price of Owning a Cart<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one more hurdle these trucks workers and owners face before they can plate your chicken and lamb combo. Food cart businesses are notoriously predatory, littered with middlemen whose only goal is to scam hardworking immigrants. The New York Times reported that some cart owners pay \u201cabout 20,000 dollars every 2 years for their permits.\u201d Meanwhile, the person they are renting their permits from originally purchased the permits from the city for just a few hundred dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Halal cart on 83rd street and 2nd avenue, where Muhammad works. Photo: Sebastian Wissa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Muhammad does not own the cart or the permit. He just works there and gets paid \u201ca very low\u201d salary that he refused to disclose. Nevertheless, he informed me that his boss \u2013 the owner of the cart \u2013 is amongst the thousands of cart owners that rent their permits. This kills profits for no reason and can also be the culprit of Muhammad\u2019s low salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how can this be fixed? The main solution is to allow for more permits. More permits means more opportunities for entrepreneurs to start their business. Also, the city can make the notoriously convoluted and complex permit process a little easier. If this process is accessible to those who don\u2019t speak English as their first language, permits would be more accessible to regular merchants, instead of companies who buy them all up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Flavor of Home: Culture Through Cuisine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And despite all these hurdles and the constraints of making food that abides by the rules of halal and the middlemen that scam the trucks, these workers still make it their own. In the 90\u2019s, the Halal Guys cart began to transition their menu into the Mediterranean\/Middle Eastern mix we see today, featuring chicken over rice, gyro, falafel, and more. This is what Muhammad serves, and what he is more than happy to continue serving. He loves to bring his cultural flair to his food, specifically with \u201cthe seasoning. It is all about the seasoning Habibi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best part of halal trucks in New York City is that no chicken over rice tastes the same. Muhammad\u2019s chicken is flavorful and juicy (marinated in yogurt with an abundance of arab spices, as he told me) whereas a truck 5 blocks away seemed to have chicken that was seasoned with salt and pepper \u2013 this assessment is based on my taste buds, as they rejected a request for an interview. Muhammad also threw in a heaping of fries, 3 pieces of pita, and handed me a falafel while I was waiting for my food. Some trucks just give you chicken, rice, lettuce, tomato, and sauce and call it a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chicken over rice made by Muhammad. Photo: Sebastian Wissa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the months of coming to this truck and being served by 3 different workers who cook there, Muhammad is the only one who consistently gives a falafel while I wait for my food. He says he does this because when he\u2019s cooking for his kids at home he gives them a taste of the food so they can calm down while he cooks. He brings that same philosophy to the truck- \u201cif the customer is happy while he waits, he will want to come back for more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what halal carts in New York are truly about. Forget the true meaning of the word halal. Forget the permit struggles. Here, not only is Muhammad sharing the culture of his home country with the Upper East Side, he is also sharing the culture of his home. Halal food in New York is about the creativity and cultural expression born from constraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sebastian Wissa, Brandon Phiong, Joseph Rippo
Halal carts in New York City are stuck between a crossroads of rules: legal and religious. While these workers abide by the very rules that make halal, halal, they also do something that\u2019s very \u201cNew Yorker\u201d- they make it their own.
Campus: Hunter College
Professor: Michael Benediktsson
References: Bibliography\n

Abas, Muhammad. Interview by Sebastian Wissa. “Interview About Halal Carts.” New York City<\/p>\n

Chen, Stefanos. 2023. \u201cNew York Has Issued 14 New Food Cart Permits. 10,000 Vendors Want Them.\u201d The New York Times, October 13, 2023, sec. New York. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/10\/13\/nyregion\/food-vendor-permits-nyc.html.<\/p>\n

Danovich, Tove. 2015. \u201cStreet Meat: The Rise of NYC\u2019s Halal Cart Culture.\u201d Eater. July 10, 2015. https:\/\/www.eater.com\/2015\/7\/10\/8924449\/halal-cart-street-food-meat-nyc-cheap-eats.<\/p>\n

Halal Foundation. 2025. \u201cWhat Is Halal? What Halal Means – American Halal Foundation.\u201d American Halal Foundation. January 20, 2025. https:\/\/halalfoundation.org\/what-is-halal\/.<\/p>\n

News, A. B. C. 2022. \u201cFeeding the City While Fasting: What Ramadan Means to NYC\u2019s Halal Cart Workers.\u201d ABC News. 2022. https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/feeding-city-fasting-ramadan-means-nycs-halal-cart\/story?id=84398281.<\/p>\n

Wikipedia Contributors. 2025. \u201cThe Halal Guys.\u201d Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. March 17, 2025. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Halal_Guys#:~:text=The%20Halal%20Guys%20was%20founded,53rd%20Street%20and%20Sixth%20Avenue..<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sure, like almost every New Yorker, you- the reader \u2013 have eaten halal. Or, at the very least you can create an image in your head when I mention halal or halal carts. What do you think of? The classic chicken over rice? The typical, \u201cextra white sauce and a little red sauce too […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,10],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-food-truck","tag-manhattan"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1439,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}