By Morf Morford
Tacoma Daily Index
Today’s food trucks are far from cheap eats on wheels, there are some seriously gourmet offerings on four wheels. – Tyler Florence
Food truck have always appealed to me.
There’s something about the “here today, gone tomorrow”/”all kinds of things you’d never think of” menu items that trucks offer that brick and mortar establishments can’t match.
By definition, food trucks are mobile – which sometimes means that you just might never see them again.
From elaborate, yet portable desserts to foods from around the world, to foods made fresh that day, mostly at reasonable prices, you can’t beat your local food on wheels gathering.
In downtown Tacoma, Tollefsen Plaza to be exact, on Wednesdays, from 11am -2pm, (as of May 18) you can find an ever-changing caravan of trucks offering food from around the world – and specialty items from neighborhood creators.
On Tuesdays throughout the summer (starting June 7) check out Dune Peninsula at Point Defiance Park, from 5-8 p.m. You’ll find a rotating lineup of trucks including Fat Zach’s Pizza, Boss Mama’s Kitchen, Bliss Small Batch Creamery, Starvin’ Marvin Hotdogs, BBQ Junkies and many more.
Meanwhile in Puyallup
On Fridays throughout the summer (starting June 3) don’t miss Puyallup’s Food Truck Fridays, starting at 11 a.m. next to Pioneer Park. The rotating lineup of trucks includes Thai’m to Roll, Flavorworks, Sabrina’s Street Melts, Boss Mama’s Kitchen, Velvet’s BigEasy, Starvin’ Marvin Pizza, and much more.
And on the road
Like the food, if you find yourself in transit, you can find food trucks all around the country – most with regional delights as their specialties.
From Rhode Island to Michigan,wherever you go, you can find a food truck festival to match your mood, appetite and budget.
Check out national food truck festivals here: www.foodtruckfestivalsofamerica.com.
When I lived in China I learned that each region, sometimes each city, had its particular dish that best represented that area.
Food trucks are often better able to experiment and explore local and seasonal offerings than more established operations. Their scale allows an immediacy and improvisational approach to menu items that more traditional venues cannot even consider.
Book a truck for your next event
If you have any events that require pop-up, yet interesting food, you can hire a local food truck here: roaminghunger.com/food-trucks/seattle-wa/1/.
For Pierce County specific food trucks, you can see a list of truck licensed to operate in Pierce County here: www.foodtrucktacoma.com/the-trucks/.
From innovative pizzas, to vegetarian or Mexican/Asian fusion, to vegan desserts, you can find it all.
Consider a food truck for your next birthday, anniversary or no-reason-at-all neighborhood or family gathering.
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If you have a food truck, or know of one that should be listed, go to this website: http://www.foodtrucktacoma.com/info-for-food-trucks/.
In a way, food truck operators are the ultimate entrepreneurs offering their creations at our request – perhaps never to be seen again.
These trucks are often the fruit of years of dreams and hard work behind the scenes.
There are food truck events, gatherings that welcome food trucks and there are those times when we serendipitously run into them when we least expect them.
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What’s going to happen is, very soon, we’re going to run out of petroleum, and everything depends on petroleum. And there go the school buses. There go the fire engines. The food trucks will come to a halt. This is the end of the world. – Kurt Vonnegut
