Papaya salad cart

Why not in New York?

It's easy to make, but the only time I've seen papaya salad prepared streetside in the city was during a Taste of Chinatown festival, outside Mosco Center Grocery. The more complex Siem Reap version (2,000 riels), hand-ground with mortar and pestle, included half a small crab as well as a wordlessly customized level of spice — the vendor held out a pinky-size red pepper, I pinched my fingers to half its length, and he snapped the pepper in two.

Papaya salad cart
Near Psar Chaa, Siem Reap, Cambodia
(From a November 2006 visit)