Shelly-Ann’s story
It wasn’t easy to get Shelly-Ann to talk with us. Even after we had agreed that nothing that would easily reveal her identity would see the light of day in our story she had dug her heels in. Her attitude was entirely understandable. We had decided that some part of our series of articles on street-vended foods would address the seamier side of the trade, the conditions under which service is provided and the risks to consumers associated with some of those conditions. Shelly-Ann (real name withheld) is 34, has been vending food on the streets for more than ten years and admits that she is familiar with some of the transgressions linked to the risks associated with street-vended foods. It is these risks, these transgressions that we wanted to raise with someone in the trade and once we told Shelly-Ann what we were up to she asked us outright whether we were “crazy.”