Mobile gastronomy

The Food Truck is as versatile in its route as the food it carries. As a rule they are driven into areas where there is a high concentration of pedestrians; they can have a fixed waiting point for the customers to come to them at the same time every day or can be mobile, moving along a route. They can also be hired for special events or for certain types of cuisine.

Fast food trucks have become the latest craze in the United States of America. Instead of the worker going to the restaurant, sitting down and enjoying a meal, all he has to do now is go outside to the street, where a Food Truck will bring his meal to him. It’s the latest craze and it’s taking hold fast…as fast as the food will cook.

Mobile gastronomy is the catchphrase of the day in the USA and it is invading the Internet as much as the streets, where various types of food truck cater for different tastes, ranging from Vietnamese sandwiches called Banh mi (in the photograph) to kosher trucks selling food for Jews, from ice cream sandwiches to Mexican tacos, from Korean cuisine to fusion cuisine.

Why are food trucks so popular? Basically because they are businesses which cater for specific clients and therefore take great care in the quality of the food they offer, the result being that the customers have greater trust in the final quality of the food, favouring food trucks over hot dog or pretzels or kebab stands in the street.

The new development caught on in 2008 in Los Angeles and New York, opposite sides of the USA, when the food trucks began presenting high-quality food catering for the top end of the market, guaranteeing quality and excellent presentation. Indeed, the authorities in the United States of America insist on stringent health and safety conditions, which include hot running water, vending windows, lined walls and floors, electricity and a retail payment system – the same health and safety requirements as restaurants.

Food Trucks these days are high quality, hi-tech businesses, even posting new menus on Twitter and they have now made it to TV: in 2010, The Great Food Truck Race, a new series, was launched on US television.

This new, flexible concept of providing food and beverages of high quality and excellent presentation seems certain to drive out of business those burger vendors whose goods were always considered “iffy” at the very least. You could call it the Food Revolution of the 21st century.