In
last weeks’ blog I described the beginnings of street food, how that related
with cultures and the development of food trucks as we’ve known them in the
last century. This week I’ll continue the story and will give you some insights
in upcoming developments.
The
food trucks as developed by the American farmers turned out to be useful also
in other situations. Horse drawn wagons were used as mobile canteens on
building sites and at army bases. Immigrants from Mexico introduced the taco
wagons that spread slowly over the country. By the way, it wasn’t unusual that
immigrants were the ones selling food from mobile kitchens. Think of the famous
Frankfurters (or hot dogs) that where introduced in New York by a German or snow cones (shaved ice) that originates
in exotic countries but is available all over the world now.
Starting
a food truck is relatively easy and cheap. There is no need to wait for clients
to come as you can go to them and fixed costs are almost nihil. As people have
less money to spend in expensive restaurants, star chefs moved their businesses from
static restaurants to mobile food trucks, offering their clients the quality
foods they were used to for prices that suit the nowadays economic situation.
But
it is not only star chefs that abandoned fast food from the streets. At the
moment it seems to be a world-wide trend to sell quality food from food trucks:
on busy shopping streets, at festivals, in the middle of office areas. Everyone
can now have access to healthy lunches, snacks or dinners without spending a huge
amount of money. Thanks to this
movement, food trucks have become a good solution for people that live in so
called food deserts (see an earlier blog on this subject). With their
possibility to move easily they can prepare healthy dishes made with fresh food
and make it directly available to the people in that area.
With
the world getting fatter and still more food demanding, the fact that at least
one part of the food resellers abandons the bad habits is no more than a mere
drop in the ocean. Street food is, because of its prices and its prominent
position in the public space, very accessible and can therefore reach those
people that until now have not been very aware of the food revolution that is slowly taking place.
To
conclude this blog: These days you do not have to be ashamed anymore eating
something on the go. The period in which street food was fat and of low quality
is ending. Actually, this summer food trucks seem to become the new restaurants
where hipster and normal folk will meet and join some food together. And that is exactly what Food in the Streets likes.
See
you there!
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