This week’s 5 on Friday we spoke with the owner of the Santa Fe based food truck, Slurp.
Name: Rebecca Withers Chastenet
Age: 45
Food truck name: Slurp
Location: Santa Fe, NM
Year started in the mobile food industry: late 2010
Mobile Cuisine: Why did you become a food truck owner, chef?
Rebecca Withers Chastenet: Serendipity, really. A wine-soaked dinner party among friends found me teaming up with 2 partners, one a chef, the other the consummate host and uber party planner. I was a dormant food writer, ready to trade my pen for an apron and do something new. A year and a half later, two of us (the chef lasted only 2 short months!) cook from scratch each morning and feed a community of friendly Santa Feans.
MC: Who has been the most influential person in your culinary career?
RWC: My family were foodies before foodies were “cool.” Mom and Dad were part of a gourmet club. My grandparents cooked and entertained with pizazz. My younger sister is a trained chef and styles food without even trying to make it look beautiful.
MC: What do you think sets your truck apart from your competitors?
RWC: The ambiance. We’re housed in a 1967 Airstream Trailer on a one-way side street, but music wafts out the windows along with the scent of saffron-riddled paella, bubbling soup pots, and trailer-baked focaccia bread. Plants, prayer flags, chairs covered in adorably funky mix & match oilcloth upholstery, and a huge spoon on the roof round out the picture…
MC: What are your plans for the future? Where do you see yourself and your food truck in 2 and 5 years?
RWC: As a food writer/blogger and truck owner, I’d like to see the two collide into a book or TV project, or app.
MC: What one suggestion would you give to someone planning to open a food new truck?
RWC: Go for it! Put your personality into it and create your food with love. The rest will follow!
Rebecca Chastenet
Twitter: @SLURPSantaFe
Santa Fe’s ONLY Airstream eatery offering 3 from-scratch soups, trailermade bread, coffee, chai & beverages in eco take out containers weekdays from 7 to 3.