The Toronto Traveler

If you’ve ever visited a large city before, one thing that you’re probably aware of is the fact that if you’re in a rush, then grabbing a quick bite to eat is not difficult with all of the fast food restaurants around.  While Toronto does have more than enough fast food restaurants for people to choose from (especially in the downtown area near many of the major tourist attractions), if you are looking for something quickly, there is an option aside from fast food that turns out to be cheaper and quite often faster as well.

Hot Dog Stands and Meal Trucks are all over the place in downtown Toronto and many of them are around working more than 12 hours during the day.  This ensures that whether you are going to a sporting event, visiting a museum or just taking in some of the sights and sounds of Toronto, you’ll definitely have no problem grabbing something to eat from one of those stands should you choose to do so.  At the University where I am on a frequent basis there’s a hot dog stand on each corner and meal trucks between them!  And there are few places in downtown where you can stand outside on the street without seeing one in your immediate vision (believe me, I’ve tried).

The typical fare on a hot dog stand is usually limited to beef hot dogs, chicken hot dogs, Polish sausages, Italian sausages, German sausages, veggie hot dogs and various drinks from pop to juice with water thrown into the mix as well.  Beef and chicken hot dogs usually go for $2.00 to $2.50; sausages go from $3.00 to $3.50; veggie hot dogs usually go for $2.50 to $3.00 and drinks are around $1.00 to $1.50 depending on what you want.  With many toppings that you can put on your dog and nice thick sausages, you can get a filling meal and a drink for under $5.00 from a hot dog vendor in just a few minutes, which is far better than you could do at any fast food restaurant in the area.

Meal Trucks have more choice in terms of their offerings and will frequently offer both hot dogs and burgers in both meat and veggie formats however you’d like them done.  You can also usually get fries from a meal truck and therefore grab a meal of a burger, fries and a drink for a little bit more than you would spend at a hot dog stand.  Meal trucks are regulated for the city and required to maintain safety and health standards high in order to operate and all of the food is cooked extremely thoroughly as well, meaning that it is all safe to eat.

I’m not necessarily saying that hot dogs and meal trucks represent gourmet cuisine in the City of Toronto, but I would make the point that if you’re in a hurry, they might be better than fast food restaurants.  They’re definitely faster and cheaper however, two things which are usually looked for by someone that is in a hurry to get somewhere else.

Also, perhaps as a testament to the multicultural nature of the City of Toronto, many of the different hot dog stands have actually started carrying products that fit various dietary restrictions.  The best example of this is the fact that the city has a number of different Halal hot dog stands with food that follows Muslim dietary law.

Photo Credits: Flickr, Flickr, Flickr

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