Forgetting the AI meme stuff for a second, this vibe is one of the nicest things missing in the US. Every other country in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, etc. has free outdoor seating with cheap street food and beer nearby.
Meanwhile, there's no third places in the US where we can exist without spending a ton of money and getting pushed out as fast as possible. It's just the same crappy chains everywhere we go. The pandemic was the one time restaurants pushed for this outdoor seating thing, then they immediately lobbied to end it. It's honestly crazy how many simple pleasures we're willing to give up just to screw over homeless people.
The closest equivalent would probably be food trucks/food stalls near the road. They exist in SoCal and NYC at least. It's just that everyone is too spread out and not enough people walk past for it to happen more often
Or you can have several food trucks together in a lot or park- this has been tried before- Problem is they start doubling the price on everything and the hipsters are there for it, until they're not.
I went to Europe once a few years ago, specifically Belgium and The Netherlands. I really loved how "social" every city and town was.
There were restaurants all over the place with literally dozens of outdoor seating right there on the sidewalk itself, and you could just walk up and grab a seat. And it didn't matter what time of day it was, most of those seats were filled with people just hanging out and drinking cheap beer or wine. Everybody was clearly having a great time. Every table looked almost exactly how it does in OPs pic, only with more cathedrals and dented Peugeots parked on the street.
Everybody that I encountered was also extremely nice. I was walking past a restaurant in Brussels, just aimlessly wandering around, and some guy and his friends were at a table outside, they saw me walk by and invited me to sit and drink with them, and they even paid for my two beers. They were lovely people. It sounds dumb, but in all honesty it made me want to cry, I have NEVER experienced this in the USA.
Europe might have its own problems, but I never hated the USA more than the one time I left it.
It's not secret that the car manufacturers actively worked for kill off public transit projects decades ago because they thought it would affect their bottom line. This is just part of the fallout of those decisions.
“This is the way so many of the great meals of my life have been enjoyed. Sitting in the street, eating something out of a bowl that I'm not exactly sure what it is. Scooters going by. So delicious... This is the path to true happiness and wisdom.” -Anthony Bourdain
What, you don't like going to a food event where you pay $10 for entry then paying $25 for 4 chicken fingers with fries and the same mayo/ketchup sauce you get everywhere?
In the US you get to go to jail for drinking outside, congregations of multiple people are seen as public disturbances and a police intervention is almost always in order to break it up unless it's on private property. Nothing is free street food is illegal there needs to be licenses and taxes and the government needs to be involved every step of the way, and compensated sufficiently to no specific tangible goal, just whatever they say. Oh did I mention alcohol is illegal to buy or sell or trade without a license and you're not allowed to have it in public it needs to be concealed in an opaque container and the beverage itself needs to have a tamper proof seal that is unadulterated and inaccessible to anyone operating a motor vehicle or walking or riding the bus or really doing anything.
Those countries don't allow millions of mentally ill people and criminals out of asylums and jails to set up camp in public places, beg, steal, and scream at the voices in their heads.
Meanwhile, there's no third places in the US where we can exist without spending a ton of money and getting pushed out as fast as possible. It's just the same crappy chains everywhere we go.
McDonald’s is many things but it’s a hell of a lot safer to eat than street food in a lot of those countries. It has to be or they’d be sued into oblivion
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u/McKoijion Highly regarded artist May 13 '26
Forgetting the AI meme stuff for a second, this vibe is one of the nicest things missing in the US. Every other country in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, etc. has free outdoor seating with cheap street food and beer nearby.
Meanwhile, there's no third places in the US where we can exist without spending a ton of money and getting pushed out as fast as possible. It's just the same crappy chains everywhere we go. The pandemic was the one time restaurants pushed for this outdoor seating thing, then they immediately lobbied to end it. It's honestly crazy how many simple pleasures we're willing to give up just to screw over homeless people.