Rolling Hunger
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By Michael Hood, Seattle Business Magazine, November 2010
Despite bureaucratic hoops and opposition from some restaurateurs, the food truck revolution has arrived in Seattle.
There have always been “roach coaches” in industrial parking lots and hot dog grillers outside clubs at 2 a.m. But who could have foreseen rolling modern kitchens in sleek trailers and tricked-out vans serving Spam sushi, kimchi quesadillas, or poutine, french fries with herbed cheese curds and gravy, a Canadian bar food that’s hot in Seattle these days?
It’s a national trend: Trucks are rolling in Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin and New York. Tacos came first, following a Southwest tradition of Mexicans serving Mexican food to Mexicans far from home. Then kebabs, falafel, Chinese dumplings, Philly cheesesteaks, bánh mì, crêpes, barbecue. Suddenly, there was a sleek fleet of independent trucks, carts and sidewalk stands handing upscale food to hungry lines at farmers markets, festivals and crowds in every neighborhood.
Then add mouthwatering media attention to the recipe. The lens adores the photogenic trucks; NPR, city magazines and newspapers love the entrepreneurial chefs serving fancy food in parking lots. Seattle’s Marination Mobile, a popular blue truck and entrepreneurial enterprise of Roz Edison and Kamala Saxton, was named the Best Food Truck in America last year by ABC’s Good Morning America.
Read more here.
