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Friday November 9, 2007

Food cart — smorgasbord or shanda?

by michael lando
jps

The menu reads like many others, with a slew of meat sandwiches. But on Thursday nights, the special is cholent. And behind the counter is a chef with payes.

While food carts are a ubiquitous staple of New York culinary life, the arrival in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Williamsburg enclave of Sub on Wheels, the first glatt-kosher food truck, has sparked a heated battle.

The target is Nathan Lichtenstein, who parks his truck in the heart of the neighborhood from 6 p.m. to midnight, five nights a week.

“I woke up one morning, told my wife and kids I have a dream, and here I am,” Lichtenstein says.

The truck, which first arrived in the middle of August, has touched off protests from some Jews who say it challenges their values. A few weeks ago, two men were taken into custody in connection with the protests, and police threatened more arrests if the situation got out of hand.

Last week, street posters warned families not to patronize the truck. “If you know what’s good for your kids, don’t let them go,” the signs read.

Protesters think the food truck encourages fress, a Yiddish word meaning to eat more than is necessary. Fast food is not considered a viable alternative to home-cooked meals by haredis, so it is assumed that whatever food is bought from the truck is in addition to dinner at home. Some also fear that the truck encourages men and women to mingle on the streets.

Many say the protesters are a vocal minority who resist anything new, especially if it appears to mirror secular society.

Old-timers remember the first kosher pizza place that opened, to loud protest, in the religious part of Williamsburg some 40 years ago. And more recently, a billboard for Oorah, a children’s charity that wanted to encourage car donations, was spray-painted because the featured boy did not have the shaved head and long sidelocks common in Williamsburg.

Similar ventures in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods have been tried in the past, but none has survived.

Lichtenstein, who has been through four heart attacks and the loss of a child, insists he is here to stay. “You can take the kid out of Williamsburg, but you can’t take Williamsburg out of the kid,” he repeats several times, laughing out loud.

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