Ms. Sheraton,
My name is Richard Myrick; I am the editor-in-chief of a new online Magazine titled Mobile Cuisine Magazine. We cover the growing mobile food industry in the United States. I recently read an interview you had with CapitalNewYork.com in which you were quoted as saying, “and the truck thing, I don’t know how long that’ll last. I don’t know where they eat it, that’s what I can’t figure out about a truck. Where the hell do you eat it?” After reading this quote, I was taken aback to think that someone with your background would actually say something like this.
The current upswing in the number of gourmet food trucks in the United States is far from a trend. People have been eating on the run in the US for centuries. If you look back at the early days of our country when people from the East Coast migrated to the Mid-West and Western territories, how do you suppose these wagon trains fed themselves? It wasn’t that they were able to find a restaurant along the Oregon Trail, no, in most cases there was a mobile kitchen wagon these travellers prepared and distributed food from.
These settlers were not being served gourmet fare, but at the same time, these meals were something to keep them going on their arduous adventures. Later in our history, as people were populating the territories now known as Texas and California, you must have heard stories of the taco carts that served Mexican meals? These taco carts have been a fixture of these areas longer than the areas themselves were part of the United States. Customers ordering from these carts have done just fine figuring out ways to eat their meals without the confines of a table and chairs provided by a restaurant.
“Where the hell do they eat it?” This certainly is an easy answer, but again, I am very surprised with the fact that you are from New York, and do not understand the premise of these mobile eateries. You should be able to answer this question yourself. People in urban areas are constantly on the go, many of them do not have time, or the desire to wait an hour to be seated for a meal. The gourmet food trucks you have seen traveling the streets of New York and around the country help serve these people, and fill an important role in our society today.
If you were to take the time to talk with some of the owners of these trucks and sample some of their mobile cuisine, I believe you may be surprised at what you find. Many of the owners have very deep culinary backgrounds. Some you will find have been owners or executive chefs at some of the country’s finest eating establishments. The food they serve is usually made with fresh, local ingredients, and the care that they put into your meal is the same that you have received from 3 star Michelin restaurants.
You will not be served by a waiter in a five hundred dollar tuxedo, or receive your meal on fine china. In all likelihood, you will be served by the chef themselves in their daily kitchen attire, and your meal will come to you in a bio-degradable package or wrapper. The food served off of these trucks is designed to be as mobile as the trucks themselves, so instead of receiving a filet which must be eaten while seated, your steak will come to you wrapped in a bun or tortilla, ready for you to dine on the go.
I hope I was able to shed some light on the mobile food industry today, and was able to answer the question you posed. I would personally like to challenge you to sample some of the fine meals served from a truck in New York City. There are trucks and carts that will provide you just about any fare you are in the mood for, and the best part is that you can find a truck near you without having to rely on a cab or the yellow pages. Simply fire up your Twitter account, and look up a New York based truck to find what you are looking for.
I wish you the best, and hope to hear from you in regards to my challenge.
Sincerely,
Richard Myrick
Editor-in-Chief
