Traverse City is considered a ‘foodie’ destination. Well, on a smaller, yet comparable scale to larger metropolises. So, it only makes sense that keeping up with the Big City Jones is constantly on task. Especially, when the newest food trends are involved. In this postal case, it’s not necessarily a trend, but a truck. A Food Truck.
The concept of the food truck is kinda cool. This is summer in Traverse City. Countless festivals and events scheduled throughout the season and well into Fall draw both locals and tourists. Correction: tourists. Locals hate those damn festivals. And, don’t even get me started on the fucking tourists. Regardless of my hate, the ability to stroll around the town and sit outside eating from this newest trend would be rather fun.
From push cart to food truck
1691 – New Amsterdam (now known as New York City) begins regulating street vendors selling food from push carts.
1866 – The Chuck wagon is invented by Charles Goodnight to feed cattlemen and wagon trains traversing the old West.
1894 – Sausage vendors sell their wares outside the student dorms at major eastern universities (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell), and their carts became known as “dog wagons”.
1936 – Oscar Mayer rolls out the first portable hot dog cart The Weiner Mobile.
1974 – Raul Martinez converted an old ice cream truck into the nation’s first taco truck and parked it outside of an East Los Angeles bar
1980’s – Grease trucks begin parking on Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ selling “Fat Sandwiches” to college students.
July 2006 – Wikipedia adds “food truck” to their list of entries
January 2010 – Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association (SoCalMFVA) is created, becoming the first organization created to protect the rights of gourmet food truck owners.
August 2010 – The Great Food Truck Race marks the first television program centered on the mobile food industry.
February 2012 – Food Trucks serves NFL Superbowl Fans in Indianapolis.
June 2014 – The National Food Truck Association is formed creating the first national association of food truck associations.
The truck stops here
Here in Traverse there is one main designated area where the trucks can actually stop. Permanently. I reviewed some of the ordinances and by-laws restricting food truck operations. The pdf was long – too long for my attention span. Besides, it was written in that lawyer talk. I can’t understand that shit. I managed to pull off a pretty realistic courtroom ‘drama’ in My … Fictionalized Memoir, but that proverbial ‘truck’ ran out of gas.
Little Fleet
http://www.thelittlefleet.com/food-trucks/
Honestly, I don’t get out much. Some weeks I work three closing shifts and the weekend. Going anywhere is an effort – especially when there are people involved. So, It’s best for everyone if I stay home. But I must say, if I had one of those cushy office jobs downtown AND I didn’t work retail, I would probably be a lunchtime Food Truck regular. Maybe.
What the Truck?
It’s a good thing these twins aren’t vegan, eh?
