A brief history of Philly’s favorite street foods

Philly is a food town, and true to its gritty culture, many of the city’s most notable foods originated with street vendors, not in fancy dining rooms. 

To honor Philly’s street food traditions, Taste of Your Town is presenting the Philly Street Food Festival this weekend. Before you head down to the sports complex, Billy Penn thought it was important to share the history of some of Philly’s all-time favorite street foods. 

Cheesesteaks

The creation of the cheesesteak is widely credited to the Olivieri brothers, Harry and Pat. In 1930, the brothers were running their hot dog stand in South Philly when they decided to make something different for lunch. They sliced some beef and onions, then set them on the grill before tucking the contents into a roll. A passing cab driver saw the hot dog stand owners eating the sandwich and insisted on trying it. He suggested they stop eating and start selling the sandwich. 

They did, near the Italian Market, then opened a storefront location, Pat’s King of Steaks, on Passyunk Avenue in 1940. The sandwich did not originally include cheese because of the significant Jewish population in the neighborhood that kept kosher. After Kraft Cheese Whiz went on the market in 1952, Pat Olivieri realized he could heat up the entire can on the grill and put cheese on some of the sandwiches without contaminating the grill with dairy. Thus, the cheesesteak was born. Longtime competitor of Pat’s, Geno’s Steaks, is among the vendors listed for the festival this weekend.