Hawker (trade)
Encyclopedia
Peddler
A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a canvasser, cheapjack, monger, or solicitor , is a travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used for travellers hawking goods in the countryside to small towns and villages; they might also be called tinkers or gypsies...
or costermonger
Costermonger
Costermonger, or simply Coster, is a street seller of fruit and vegetables, in London and other British towns. They were ubiquitous in mid-Victorian England, and some are still found in markets. As usual with street-sellers, they would use a loud sing-song cry or chant to attract attention...
. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells items or food that are native to the area. Whether stationary or mobile, hawkers usually advertise by loud street cries
Street cries
Street cries are the short lyrical calls of merchants hawking their products and services in open-air markets. The custom of hawking led many vendors to create custom melodic phrases...
or chants, and conduct banter with customers, so to attract attention and enhance sales. When accompanied by a demonstration and/or detailed explanation of the product, the hawker is sometimes referred to as a demonstrator or pitchman.
Victorian London
The costermongerCostermonger
Costermonger, or simply Coster, is a street seller of fruit and vegetables, in London and other British towns. They were ubiquitous in mid-Victorian England, and some are still found in markets. As usual with street-sellers, they would use a loud sing-song cry or chant to attract attention...
s of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
were at their peak in the 19th century. Organised, yet semi-criminal, they were ubiquitous, and their street cries
Street cries
Street cries are the short lyrical calls of merchants hawking their products and services in open-air markets. The custom of hawking led many vendors to create custom melodic phrases...
could be heard everywhere.
North America
In large cities across North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, hawkers are commonly known as street vendors, who sell snack items, such as popcorn, cotton candy, peanuts, beverages, and ice cream, along with non-edible items, such as jewelry, clothes, books, and paintings. Hawkers are also found selling various items to fans at a sports venue; more commonly, this person is simply referred to as a stadium vendor.
Caribbean
In the Caribbean hawkers are commonly referred to as higglers or informal commercial importers . They sell items in small roadside stands, public transit hubs, or other places where consumers would want items such as snacks, cigarettes, phone cards, or other less expensive items. Higglers often break larger items into small individual consumable portions for re-sale and use. Buying these items from more traditional vendors, farmers, or merchants for re-sale via their informal network in communitiesSouth and Southeast Asia
Hawkers are very common in many countries in AsiaAsia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. In India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, hawkers are so prevalent they have unionized in the state of Bengal
Bengal Hawkers Association
The Bengal Hawkers Association is a trade union of hawkers in West Bengal, India. BHA is affiliated with the Trade Union Coordination Committee. BHA was founded in 1950, and is the oldest hawkers union in the state....
the capital of which is Calcutta
Calcutta Hawkers' Men Union
Calcutta Hawkers' Men Union is a trade union of hawkers in Kolkata. CHMU was founded in 1971. CHMU is affiliated to All India Trade Union Congress. Its membership is mainly based amongst food vendors.Source: ...
. Balut
Balut
A balut is a fertilized duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell.Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors in the regions where they are available. It is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines...
is a popular dish sold by hawkers in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. In both China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, hawkers' inventories often include fishball, beefball, bugzaigo, roasted chestnuts
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
and stinky tofu
Stinky tofu
Stinky tofu or chòu dòufu is a form of fermented tofu that has a strong odor. It is a popular snack in East and Southeast Asia, particularly mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and in East Asian enclaves elsewhere where it is usually found homemade, at night markets or roadside stands, or as a...
. In Singapore and Malaysia, these stands have become so successful that many have chosen to set up shop more permanently in a Hawker center
Hawker centre
A hawker centre or cooked food centre is the name given to open-air complexes in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Riau Islands housing many stalls that sell a variety of inexpensive food...
.
Across Asia, stalls have been set up with little to no government monitoring. Due to health concerns and other liability problems, the food culture has been seriously challenged in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, though without marked success. However, in Hong Kong, the lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
versus license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
d hawker restrictions have put a burden on this mobile food culture. The term Jau Gwei
Jau Gwei
Jau Gwei refers to the sudden abandonment of roadside vendor stalls in Hong Kong, when the squads of the Hawker Control Team are coming and the vendors are either operating a stall illegally or selling prohibited goods.Gwei refers to the Gweilo, as the hawker control officers...
(literally: running from ghosts) has been used to describe vendors often running away from local police.
See also
- Cuisine of Hong KongCuisine of Hong KongHong Kong cuisine is influenced by Cantonese cuisine and parts of non-Cantonese-speaking China , Western world, Japan, and Southeast Asia, due to Hong Kong's past as a British colony and long history of being an international city of commerce...
- Disabled veteran street vendorsDisabled veteran street vendorsDisabled veteran street vendors in New York are legally exempt from municipal regulations on street vendors, under a 19th century New York state law...
- CamelôCamelôCamelô is a Brazilian Portuguese name given to street vendors in major Brazilian cities.Law enforcement often enters into conflict - sometimes physical - with camelôs, for selling low-quality products , making improper use of public space , and for not paying the same taxes that licensed retailers...
, the name given to street vendors in Brazil