If you look back a decade ago, buying food from a
street vendor truck was often anything but a gourmet experience. Greasy burgers, hot dogs and souvlaki, along
with fast food favourites such as French fries and gyros were enjoyed, often based solely on convenience, and
were forgotten about by the time you reached the last bite.
Then there were the
numerous investigative news reports regarding the health and safety practices of some food vendors that
turned quite a few people off from getting their street meat fix.
But food trucks are vastly
improving. Cuisine from all over the world can be found, including fusion flavours, bringing healthier, more
savoury options to the hands of the masses.
Hit shows such as Food
Network's Eat St. have glamourized the idea of mobile meals, with food trucks offering pull pork
sandwiches, perogies, and rotisserie chicken, just to name a few. The Great Food Truck
Race,
hosted by chef Tyler Florence is set to return to Food Network
Canada for its second season later this fall. The show follows seven food trucks as they
travel across the U.S. in a cooking and sales competition.
Lifestyler
recently learned of celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito’s charitable food truck in New York,
Now Eat This, which helps make healthy (and still delicious) food more accessible to children in
underprivileged communities.
Some restaurants, such as
The Flying Pig in Los Angeles, got their start with a food truck, which was used by owner Joe Kim,
to test out their recipes to the
public.
In addition to their restaurant in Cleveland, Fahrenheit has a food truck (pictured above) which travels around Northeast Ohio and sells
hearty, comfort food such as short ribs, meatballs and lamb sliders.
Sure, food trucks are
still quite far from reaching fine-dining, molecular gastronomic proportions, but it’s certainly a step (or
turn) in the right direction. •
Photo Courtesy: Edsel
Little
