The first big street food hit in america was boiled peanuts in the civil war, but by the 1890s peanuts and popcorn took a back seat to the hot tamale man...

he even got his own jazz songs...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAi7IeJG-6Y

competition was fierce and big cities had syndicates that engaged in street wars and turf fights called

The Tamale Wars...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-EQCVoEliw

here is an article on SFs scene..

https://www.sfweekly.com/news/when-we-were-red-hot-s-f-s-tamale-industry-once-ruled-america/