A Touch of Morocco in Midtown Manhattan

Hassan Achmad stands in front of his food cart near Madison Square Garden on Thursday, August 23, 2012. (Philippe Theise)

Hassan Achmad sells Halal food from a cart near the corner of 31st Street and 7th Avenue by Madison Square Garden. The menu, which features standbys such as falafel, chicken, and lamb, doesn’t appear to have a particular national identity, but Achmad cooks his yellow rice with salt, black pepper, rosemary, and a little sugar, ingredients he would use in his native Morocco. Speaking in a mixture of French and English, Achmad said he hopes to study business here and become an investor. After he made a chicken and lamb sandwich on a pita, I asked him if he had any investment ideas as yet. “J’imagine,” he said, a sentence that, in this city, needs almost no translation.

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