Food trucks: Dirty water or gourmet?

When I think of food trucks I think of dirty water dogs, knish, fat cats and possibly falafel or gyro. What I learned this summer is that food trucks are becoming so much more.

The east coast seems a little backward in their recognition of these amazing vehicles. Rebecca Godina said the best place to get authentic Mexican food in the Yakima valley of Washington State is on a food truck.

“The owners are usually very friendly. A lot of them speak very limited English… and most of them don't ask for payment until after you're done eating. Very trusting, very relaxed.”

Sara Keese said in Austin food trucks are essential for her daily bread. Her office complex has skipped the cafeteria and instead contracts with a different food truck every day to serve their employees gourmet meals such as bbq brisket, pad thai, and vietnamese braised pork belly with creamy apple slaw, smoky roasted peach bbq sauce and cilantro lime rice. (Fare from Sara’s favorite truck, The Peached Tortilla).

This is a far cry from Rutger’s so-called “Fat” sandwiches many of us remember.

“Loaded with everything possible and revoltingly unhealthy, and soooooo delicious,” Bethany Bauer describes them.

Eric Lang from Philadelphia always thought of food trucks as dingy fast food stops scraping by for a living until his cousin’s wife opened her own gourmet food truck selling homemade Mac & Cheese in the Indianapolis area.

In New Jersey expect to find some interesting fare from these up-and-coming mobile food vendors, everything from make your own curry, hot dogs with black beans and kimchi, free range short ribs with polenta, and even alligator sausage.

This week will take us on a gastronomical tour of a few of these trucks and (in case you were wondering how this links to Mind Key) how starting a restaurant on wheels have changed not only the owners’ lives, but the way people are viewing food-to-go.

Learn more about food trucks on this week's