The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and food truck fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Food Truck Fun Facts.

Food Truck Fun Facts: A food truck is a large vehicle equipped to cook and sell food. Some, including ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food; others have on-board kitchens and prepare food from scratch. Sandwiches, hamburgers, french fries, and other regional fast food fare is common.

  • The chuck wagon (a cowboy’s portable kitchen wagon used on the cattle trails) was invented by Charles Goodnight in 1866. He used an army surplus Studebaker wagon to create what is considered by many as the first food truck.
  • Raul Martinez converted an old ice cream truck into the nation’s first taco truck in 1974 and parked it outside of an East Los Angeles bar.
  • Grease trucks begin parking on Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ selling “Fat Sandwiches” to college students in the 1980’s.
  • Kogi BBQ hit the streets of Los Angeles selling Asian infused tacos in 2008 and thus the gourmet food truck industry began.
  • March 5th is National Mobile Food Vendor Day in honor of Charles Goodnight, the creator of the chuck wagon.
  • The last Friday of June is National Eat at a Food Truck Day.
  • Roy Choi won Food & Wine’s “Best New Chef” in 2010, the first for a food truck.
  • Mobile food trucks, nicknamed “roach coaches” or “gut trucks,” have been around for years, serving construction sites, factories, and other blue-collar locations.
  • Food trucks have become popular for catering special events, like weddings, movie shoots, and corporate gatherings, and also to carry advertising promoting companies and brands.
  • The Street Vendor Project created the Vendy Awards in 2004. This competition identifies and celebrates NYC’s best street food vendors.
  • The National Food Truck Association was formed in June of 2014. This group created the first national association of food truck associations.

Food Truck Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we may have missed any food truck fun facts. If we can verify that the facts we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Food Trucks.

Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.