Catering vans

epicuric

epicuric

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Britain's answer to street food. No road in this country is complete without a few of these parked up in lay-by's, offering sausage, bacon and egg sandwiches or the odd burger at £3 a go including a mug of tea. Usually the meat is cheap catering grade stuff; best not inquire on its provenance. However, sometimes it really hits the mark - cheap sausages and a runny egg between two slices of 'plastic' white sliced bread and a mug of steaming hot tea by the side of a busy road just seems to work. Do you use them, or do you even have them in your part of the world?
 
We call them food trucks in the States. It's become a really big thing of late. Many festivals advertise which ones will be attending, and there are TV shows and regional competitions based on them.

Sort of a stepping stone for chefs as they eventually hope to make enough money to open a brick and mortar restaurant.

And yes, I frequent them, from the simple Halal cart, or the infamosly named "dirty water" hot dog trailers/carts, to the more gourmet types. Bizarre combos of Korean/French food, or fancy filled crepes, or anything you can imagine battered and deep fried.
 
epicuric said:
?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsbiscuit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F11%2F353-petes-baps.jpg


Britain's answer to street food. No road in this country is complete without a few of these parked up in lay-by's, offering sausage, bacon and egg sandwiches or the odd burger at £3 a go including a mug of tea. Usually the meat is cheap catering grade stuff; best not inquire on its provenance. However, sometimes it really hits the mark - cheap sausages and a runny egg between two slices of 'plastic' white sliced bread and a mug of steaming hot tea by the side of a busy road just seems to work. Do you use them, or do you even have them in your part of the world?
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I get the feeling they old traditional cheap and cheerful ones are falling out of fashion in the UK (much like greasy spoon cafes) and being replaced by more up-market versions including ethnic offering.
 
Oh, I see I've missed the point.

No, we don't have them outside of dirty water dog carts that sell, you guessed it, boiled hot dogs. However, you can have fixins. Usually mustard and/or ketchup, sauerkraut, or glow in the dark onions. They sell the dogs, plus large, soft pretzels, and a 12 oz can of soda for a $1 each.

It would be nice to have variety for low budget aficianados of culinary adventures...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4-1VyLbZjk
 
buckytom said:
We call them food trucks in the States. It's become a really big thing of late. Many festivals advertise which ones will be attending, and there are TV shows and regional competitions based on them.

Sort of a stepping stone for chefs as they eventually hope to make enough money to open a brick and mortar restaurant.

And yes, I frequent them, from the simple Halal cart, or the infamosly named "dirty water" hot dog trailers/carts, to the more gourmet types. Bizarre combos of Korean/French food, or fancy filled crepes, or anything you can imagine battered and deep fried.
Click to expand...
Yes, we have that type too. Usually in 'artisan' vans - old French panel vans or converted VW campers, selling a huge variety of foods at festivals or sports events. However, the ones I was referring too are really basic food trailers who sell at the side of busy roads, or on industrial estates. Their menu's are almost always limited to bacon/sausage/egg/burger and tea/coffee/soft drink. I can't remember when they became widespread, but they probably are the equivalent of your hot dog stand.
 
About 50 years ago we had a pie cart. Was an old bus with seating and they did a roaring trade after pub closing at 6 pm. They served hot pies with different toppings, pea pie and pud was the saying and still is, mashed potatoes on top with peas and a slice of Beetroot.Last one left about 15 years ago. Food trucks pop up,everywhere now. My fave is one in town called Singapore noodles. That satay is even better than mine. I love it. We have most foods covered Thai to Mexican.

Russ
 
We also used to have mobile fish and chip shops - vans fitted with deep fat fryers that would tour neighbourhoods selling fresh fish and chips, wrapped in paper. The last one stopped visiting our village about five years ago.
 
Food trucks are popular in the US. I had a neighbor that owned one. He did a lot of prep work at home. We've never tried any. Sometimes we see signs announcing were a gathering of them will be on a certain date. There is a horse drawn, hand pulled taffy cart that is still in business in NOLA. I think the operator is 3rd generation.

Many of these trucks have a "following" and will announce their location on their website on a daily basis.
 
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We have many, many food carts, either manually propelled or by motorcycle. However, I've seen very few food trucks. This one is operated by a mate and his wife.

burger bang.jpg
 
The place I live in has many things like this, we call them "gazlan", they are much in the center of the city, on the beach and even outside places of entertainment, full of times I have been hanging out in clubs and bars and hoping that it will be there when I go out, I think this is an excellent, accessible and convenient solution
 
Nody Far said:
The place I live in has many things like this, we call them "gazlan", they are much in the center of the city, on the beach and even outside places of entertainment, full of times I have been hanging out in clubs and bars and hoping that it will be there when I go out, I think this is an excellent, accessible and convenient solution
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The one pictured has stackable chairs and folding tables for the punters which are stored in the truck when it is "closed".
 
Last year i did a weekly art market and the food truck that came to hawk their food had a smoker on the back and when it pulled into market circle trailed smoke and barbq smell and they served brisket, pulled pork, potato salad, and cole slaw. I bought a side of potato salad now and again from them.

There is a food truck that parks daily at the local gas station...i don't know what they serve but it has a image of a rhino on the side. And there used to be an empanada truck on my way home from work for a while parked by the industrial park but i have stopped seeing it...likely found richer customers elsewhere. But we have the honey wagon man and the boiled peanut dude that you can always find in the same place and have been coming those spots along the road for years.
 
Years ago we used to have a catering truck at work. They had burritos and wrapped sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, sodas, coffee, candy. Nothing fancy. We called it the Roach Coach. We always knew when he arrived, because his horn played La Cucaracha.
 
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