It's that time of year, and that time of life. Us second-year grad students are at the half-way point between midterms and finals, juggling school work with rest-of-life work - planning moves, applying for jobs, finding a new place to call home. In the jumble of it all, some things go neglected: the dog get's shorter walks, sleeping hours decrease and savory meals drops a bit on the priority list.
Since eating is something we have to do every day (preferably a few times a day) there is a simple solution to make food fun, adventurous, filling and relatively inexpensive amidst all this chaos: food trucks.
The first thing to say here is that Boston, per usual when it comes to food culture, is neither the coolest or hippest or most cutting edge when it comes to food trucks. The Bay State has little in comparison to, say, Southern California, New York City or Portland, Oregon (hello, grilled cheese served in a school bus!). That's ok. At least there is some food truck culture in Boston and a bit of a movement creating a stir in the city.
In general, food trucks offer up a few things to consumers: convenient locations, freshly prepared food, low cost items, a bit of novelty and culture. The newest wave of food trucks (different from the more traditional, old-school food carts slinging greasy premade convenience foods) focuses on freshness, healthful dishes, local food, specialty ingredients or a coolness factor derived from the use of social media. You could claim this food truck renaissance started with the Kogi BBQ Truck featuring Korean tacos (correct me if I am wrong) and increasing its buzz by only announcing each day's truck location through Twitter. Thus creating the perfect storm of delicious food, social media, and hipness. Food trucks offer up their own perks to their loving owners too: lower overhead costs, smaller upfront investment, the ability to serve food in a new place each day - a much easier way to break into food service than with a brick and mortar restaurant.
Back to Boston, chronically behind in all things food and cool. The city does have its food truck trailblazer: Clover Food Lab. One glance at the website reveals all. This team has a vision and a mission and just barely enough coffee to get it all done. Not only do they serve food, lots of food, but they also blog and tweet on an above-regular basis. On a not-so-warm day last spring I ate at their truck by South Station. It was later in the afternoon, and they were out of most of the side dishes. However, the chickpea fritter in a pita was pretty good and the aesthetics of the white truck with their stencil logo and menu written in black dry-erase marker were even better. I was eavesdropping on a management meeting occurring at the table next to me, there was no doubt these folks take their operation seriously. Had we not been sitting next to the food truck, and had they not been wearing Clover shirts and Clover trucker hats, their tone and gestures implied something as important as hospital triage or negotiating world peace...these guys think big.
The fine City of Boston, in an attempt to (well, I'm not sure exactly what) increase food access or support local businesses or do something to increase its own coolness factor, sponsored the Boston Food Truck Challenge to find the three perfect food trucks to spruce up Boston City Hall Plaza for the warm season. If you've ever seen the plaza, you know that anything would add a little life to its vast landscape of brick, but that's beyond the point. A good number of existing food trucks and aspiring food truck owners participated in the 'challenge' and the winners were Bon Me Food Truck, Momogoose and World Eats. I'm not really sure what guidelines the City used to determine winners, as these three trucks all serve a form of the Vietnamese sandwich and showcase similar flavors...
The winning trucks were promised "technical assistance, permitting guidance, and assistance applying for low-interest loans from the City of Boston," along with a spot on the plaza. But as it turns out, the spot at City Hall may be the only thing the winners get. The Boston Globe wrote a great piece here about some of the bumps along the way, so I will spare you the details. The most important details to come out of it all...World Eats decided to jump ship opening the way for Clover to join the City Hall trio and the opening day was moved two weeks earlier than originally planned. Amidst the last minute scramble, all carts were ready for action yesterday - on a classic, gloomy, rain-soaked Spring Boston day. I will admit, I was dissuaded by the weather but tomorrow I will head to City Hall Plaza to taste the food truck goodness, and I promise a prompt review right here.
The rise of food trucks in Boston, and the City's efforts to support them is all a good sign. The city is taking great strides to create zones for food trucks and streamline the permitting process. Food trucks may not be the solution to problems of food access, food deserts or affordable food and they sure can be trendy and specialized...but at least them promise something a little new and different as the warm season approaches and we all want to spend more time outside: a bit of adventure, a low(er) cost bite and a reason to put the books down and get out of the house.
Want a Food Truck in your neighborhood or want to be a Food Truck owner? Check out the City of Boston's Food Truck Location Survey or just go visit City Hall Plaza yourself.
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