As of April 30, street food vendors will need to comply with rigorous requirements that change the way Las Vegans interact with them. Nevada’s guidelines in SB92 offer a path for street food vendors to legitimize their positions within our communities. These regulations can be utilized to maintain hygiene standards and clear methods of operation for street food vendors.

Unfortunately, Clark County’s set of regulations present unintentional consequences. Many have mentioned these regulations will impact the livelihood of street vendors. While Clark County’s regulations aim to maintain control of street food vendors occupying sidewalks, they also superintend Latinx and others cultural representations across Southern Las Vegas by limiting informal street food vendors’ presence across our parks and communities.

When Clark County commissioners voted on the ordinance April 4, informal street food vendors and their supporters emphasized that their presence in our parks and community not only offers them a chance to earn a living but also contributes to creating community since they help link people together.

Parks are where informal street food vendors and community members can interact, creating individual and collective memories. The interaction between street vendors and individuals creates social ties that encapsulate an emotional link between the vendors, consumers and location. Sociologists have demonstrated that the creation of culture is a continuous process where individuals interact with the different elements in their environment. Thus, by engaging with our street food vendors, people are creating and reinterpreting cultural meaning.     

Informal street food vendors perform “aesthetic entrepreneurship,” which means that street vendors are actors within a local narrative that creates a distinct identity and sense of place. This is why when we see a taco spot or an elotero, a colloquial term for a person who sells corn often in a cart, we think not only about the food they are selling, but also subconsciously about the biographical relationship between their product and us, as part as the way that we do and recognize things. 

Some research showed street food vendors have the capacity to tap into emotional links related to memories where places and ethnic food are involved, and they continue to be part of the formation of memories. For example, Lorena Munoz, who specializes in immigration and informal economy and has conducted several studies about street vendors, observed how street food vendors’ products bring up feelings of nostalgia when customers find a “familiar taste” outside their native countries evoking memories related to their upbringing. It also strengthens the person’s sense of belonging because customers find this “familiar taste” within their community. This is why there are groups of people who find joy whenever they see a street food vendor within their neighborhood and parks because they represent an opportunity to revive and share what they may believe is an authentic experience. 

Each informal street food vendor is an element within parks and other areas that assist in defining the place’s character.

For example, First Friday in downtown Las Vegas is a formal exercise where street vendors and the community interact, creating a local culture. It is not only about the consumer buying street food, it is also about them enjoying something they are familiar with and recognizing it as part of their culture. Finding places around the city where the Latinx culture is expressed by street vendors is part of the formation of local culture in parks and neighborhoods.

In Nevada, non-white individuals have higher levels of unemployment and poverty than their counterparts. What would you do when there are no immediate employment opportunities available and you are running out of savings? A person who embarks in street food vending is creating their own labor opportunities.

Street food vendors are hard-working entrepreneurs. That notion is a representation of the American dream. When I see a street vendor, I see a person who is successfully challenging adversity to provide for themselves and their families. As a Latino, I see my mother in each Latina street vendor since they perform the role of provider and demonstrate a drive for success, working to provide a better future for their children who could become a doctor, lawyer or representative in Congress. 

Street vending is an act of surviving since it is a response to shared issues such as low wages and the high cost of living. Being a street food vendor is not just about what they do, it is also about who is doing it and how they are doing it. It is about giving access to a place for hardworking people to provide for their families.

Las Vegas area street vendors must deal with seasonal weather while maintaining an entrepreneurial attitude toward their labor and business. They set up in convenient locations in our community, offering products to satisfy our cravings as we visit parks, commute to our jobs or schools and represent the Latinx heritage through the taste of the food, colorful umbrellas and carts — all that while they experience Las Vegas’ heat. 

The organization and political advocacy that informal street food vendors have engaged in the past years demonstrate their willingness to formalize their profession. Regulating street vending is a challenging task since there is no perfect recipe, but I urge the regulating body to meet informal street food vendors where they are and understand their social position and identity in relationships with others. Street vendors’ individual and labor challenges must be recognized in order to create comprehensive regulations to achieve safety for the consumer.

Support for our street food vendors is needed so they can continue maintaining and celebrating the presence of the Latinx and others’ identities in Las Vegas.

Jonathan Aguilar is a sociology graduate student at UNLV.

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