Food Trucks take over Locals Only

This week marks one of the newest festivals to come to Toronto, Locals Only, an event celebrating the city’s best music, art and food.  In the last year, Toronto has grown it’s food trucks and food truck culture with thousands of foodies, entrepreneurs and creatives hopping aboard this nu-wave of cheeky food philosophy.

At the Locals Only festival (Saturday, July 7), some of Toronto’s up and coming mobile diner restauranteurs will be serving up their goods and I had a chance to preview their wares and ask them some questions.

GOURMET B1TCHES

(1)Tell me a bit about the food Gourmet B1tches provides.  How much do the items cost and is there a best selling item?

Everything on the gourmet bitches truck is gluten-free, fun, flavorful and healthy. We love traveling and experimenting with flavor combinations and I think people really connect to our sense of adventure in our food.

As far as a best seller, we have a lot of people coming back for the pork belly.  It is cooked for 5 hours and has a home made pineapple salsa and cinnamon apple slaw. We even make our own crackle on the truck which is sprinkled on top to give a little extra crunch.

(2) Do you believe there is a common misconception about what can be made in a food truck?

There is a misconception on what can be served up on a truck! Most chefs in the city who step into our truck are surprised at how professional we are.  Basically with fresh ingredients we can make ANYTHING!!!

FOOD CABBIE

(1)Tell me a bit about the food the Food Cabbie provides.  How much do the items cost and is there a best selling item?

I am a Chef from Napa Valley California.  The food I make in The Food Cabbie is authentic American/Mexican. The Food Cabbie menu consists of many items such as American Burgers as well as my own California Burger Sauce. One of my most popular items is the Breakfast Burrito.  I make my own Chorizo Sausages, which is the base for this Burrito.  I also have a secret menu, one item is called a WTF, it will remain a mystery until asked about.  All ‘fares’ on the cabbie are reasonable: between $5-$7.

(2) Tell me a bit about what is currently going on to change the laws surrounding Food Trucks in Ontario.

We started a petition months ago to amend this ridiculous by-law. We were the first to park in a private parking lot in downtown Toronto. The city gave us all the permits to operate and they said we could park and operate.  Then 6 months later, they told us they had made a mistake.  That they had overlooked an obscure by-law that states that refreshment vehicles cannot be parked for more than 10 minutes in any private/public parking lot.  Of course, we raised a stink.  Now a few months later, we’ve been seen by tons of media outlets and have had two meetings with Mayor Rob Ford.  Now the other Food Trucks are fighting back along with us.  As of right now, two city councillors have addressed this issue and are trying to amend this by-law but it doesn’t look like anything will happen until the fall.

HOGTOWN SMOKE

(1) Tell me a bit about the food the Hogtown Smoke provides.  How much do the items cost and is there a best selling item?

We make gourmet Southern BBQ with our own Hogtown twist.  The venture started in our backyards and grew from there. BBQ is in our blood.  Most items cost between $7-$10 and we’ll normally have a special of the day.

(2) What are the next steps and what can people do to support the Food Truck movement?

The next step is waiting for cities to make changes to bylaws that will let us operate in a way that gets our food to the people that want it. What most people don’t realize is, we have a 5-star kitchen on board that rivals any restaurant.  We are just as healthy and as safe. Email your councilors and tell them you want food trucks and support them whenever you can see them.