This browser does not support the Video element.
For the past seven years, Catalina Soriano Salas has sold Mexican specialties out of a shopping cart. She stands outside the West 191 Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue subway station in Washington Heights every day. The reason behind her business: to pay for her daughter's college tuition. She wakes up every day at 3 in the morning to makes tamales, tacos, arroz con leche, and champurrado.
This year she has been nominated to the annual Vendy Awards. According to its website, the Vendy Awards is an annual street food competition series that determines the "best of the best" in street food. It also serves as a fund raiser for the Street Vendor Project, a membership-based non-profit organization that stands up for vendors' rights.
The public nominated Salas for her drink "champurrado." It's made of chocolate, water, flour, and cinnamon. She is up against four other vendors in the drinks category.
The awards are held September 12 on Governors Island. The winner takes home a trophy.