REFRIED BEANS ON 13TH AND HARRISON

Pedestretarian contributor Timothy Rysdyke documented the three stages of his encounter with a to-go box of refried beans —the discovery of the box, the opening of the box, and the examination of the beans. The beans were in a parking space, suggesting either that someone drove off and forgot them, or a nearby restaurant has a compost valet service. He did not taste them and didn’t mention any noticeable smell. There was no sign of the beans’ former owner, but Rysdyke believes “It must have been someone really hungry, because who saves a big thing of refried beans like that?” To me the presence of only beans in the box implies there is another box containing a half-eaten burrito or enchilada without a side dish somewhere. Because this saddens me, I prefer to imagine they were left in a bean-phobic person’s private parking space as a prank.

MULTI-SNACK STRUCTURE ON 9TH AND PIKE

I was on my way home around 2 am one night in January when I found this snack-covered structure on a street corner near the Comet Tavern. The structure, which appeared to be made of a folding chair and a purple window frame, supported an eclectic variety of snacks, including microwave popcorn, Nutella, several half-empty bottles of fruit juice, salsa, corn chips, almond milk, and Frosted Flakes. A coat and an umbrella with a duck-shaped handle were resting next to the window/chair buffet, but it was unattended and the food looked like it had been exposed to the elements for at least a few hours. I approached it, considering eating a corn chip, but its resemblance to a shrine and/or a trap repelled me. There was something generally unsettling about it. I watched it for a while, and no one went near it or even seemed to notice it, though it was partly blocking the sidewalk. This menacing buffet’s apparent invisibility to everyone but me eventually bothered me so much I left.


If you find food on the street, send location and description to sgalvin1000@gmail.com