Street Cooks

Have you thanked your local street cook today, choom? Without these guys, more than half of Night City would probably be choking on Kibble right about now. There to make sure you always have access to a hot meal without having to resort to taking your chances on a Vend-It, you'll find them all over every district, frying away in their stalls and hole-in-the-walls, waiting to serve you delicacies, classic dishes, and fast-food favourites from the many root cultures represented in the different quarters.
While it probably won't be restaurant fare, and they're lower on the priority list for the logistics companies in charge of dividing incoming food items across the city, you're at least guaranteed to walk away with a full stomach without having to dip into your savings too hard. Rare is the street vendor who is on the distribution list for real meat. Grains, eggs, and synthetic dairy are more common but still unlikely on the whole. But these chooms have the passion and the flavours, and have learned to make do; chances are, you won't be able to tell just how much of the recipe you've just savoured is a replacement product, and if you're thinking of asking? Don't. It's rude.
Everyone has to eat, at least now and again, right? As such, most people know better than to hit up the food stalls with bad intentions. On the rare occasion some psycho tries to off a cook or make off with their eddies or product, you can count on them not making it very far. The streets of Night City aren't exactly known for people stepping in on anything, but when you mess with the food, you mess with everyone. 
Still, relative safety and a decent income don't change the fact that this is hard work. Most stalls operate on a 24/7 basis in order to be competitive and keep the eddies coming in, and it's a thankless endeavour often shared by whole families to make the workload doable and keep accidents down. Industrial grills never did mix well with 30-hour shifts, and the less is said about that, the better for everyone. So again, have you thanked your local street cook today?