Kim Pham - Food Truck Road Trip. A Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes Collected from the Best Street Food Vendors Coast to Coast

KIM: To my parents, Nancy and Duc, and my brother, Long, for always supporting me.

PHIL: To my mom, Annie, whom I miss every day, for being a foodie before the term foodie existed.

TERRI: To my husband, Justin, for always believing in whatever I think of next.

FOREWORD

The story of modern food trucks in America is a big one, a sweeping epic involving everything from the 2008 financial crisis to the simultaneous rise of social media and Internet food culture. But inside every truck and behind every cart theres a personsometimes two or threewho has a story thats far more intimate. Ask anyone why theyre working on a food truck and I guarantee youll get an awfully good tale about the road that led them there. These stories tell us where our food is coming from, who the people are who are serving it to us, and also what exactly it is that were really doing when we sweat under a New Orleans summer sun waiting for a paper tray of oh-so-worth-it boudin-filled pot stickers.

Thats why what Kim Pham and Phil Shen are doing with Behind the Food Carts is so fantastic, and so essential. I first became fans of theirs online, as an avid reader of their blog behindthefoodcarts.com, and I was honored to be part of the committee that named them the Best Culinary Travel Blog in Saveur magazines 2013 Best Food Blog Awards. As Ive gotten to know Kim and Phil in real life as well, its become increasingly obvious that theyalong with their writing partner Terri Phillipsare more than hobbyist bloggers; theyre true storytellers. They go in deep with the men and women on the other end of the truck-side counter, finding out where they come from, what they love, and whats on the menu, and then sharing it all with us through beautiful words and images.

I cant remember the first time I bought food from a truck, but I do remember the first time I stood in front of one and realized that in doing so I was participating in one of the great food movements of the era. Id just come face to face with New Yorks Treats Truck, a silver van bearing a retro logo, from which chef Kim Ima peddles cookies, brownies, and other sweets to delighted masses who queue a dozen deep. It was a novelty then, but in the years since, America has become speckled with food trucks, slinging everything from French toast to Thai green curry, and this book is a thrillingand appetite-whettingsurvey of food thats being cooked in galley-narrow, rickety-wheeled kitchens throughout the country. Imbued as it is with Kim, Phil and Terris spirit of discovery and celebration, its a beautiful document of real American food culturenot the rarefied restaurant cooking that might, over time, trickle its way down to the rest of us, but the food that were eating, all of us, right now, while loving every bite of it.

Helen Rosner

Helen Rosner is the Executive Digital Editor for Saveur magazine

INTRODUCTION

BY PHIL SHEN

Wow, how did we get here? Kim and I packed up our bags and threw everything into my tiny VW Golf in the summer of 2009. We moved from our native sunny SoCal to perpetually overcast Portland, Oregon. It was a decision done on a whim, fulfilling a craving for adventure and a fresh start in a new city. The dream was to become self-sufficient full-time photographers. But of course, our savings ran low in a matter of months and we struggled to make it as just photographers. I took a full-time job at a call center to help pay the bills and keep the dream of pursuing our passion for photography alive.

Growing up, I spent many summers abroad vacationing in Asia. I really loved the energy of the night market scene in Taiwan. Hungry customers sought out street food vendors selling hot, delicious treats. I often wondered why such a culture didnt exist in America. Little did I know that I happened to be in the perfect city for experiencing the food culture I sought. As the photo gigs sporadically came in, we became enamored with the Portland food cart scene. Our weekends were spent exploring the various food truck pods around town, which were filled with countless different carts serving everything from mac and cheese to foie gras.

As we ate from food cart to food cart, we couldnt help but notice the many proprietors who ran these tiny kitchens. It was often just one person taking the order, cooking the food and serving the dish. We became really curious about these passionate people who were putting their sweat and tears into their business. We were always on the lookout for photography projects that we could put our passion behind. It was from Kims beautiful mind that the idea came to start a food blog. It was the best of both worlds for usour love of food and capturing images.

No one decides to run a food cart for the glamour. Running a food cart means standing in a borderline claustrophobic space, sometimes with up to four other people, with a hot grill or oven for hours. Its sweating it out on hot days with temperatures soaring up to 120F (49C) and watching the clouds for rain. It means dealing with equipment failure, limited storage and competition for parking spots. Its figuring out how to challenge preconceived notions of the roach coach and serve high-end, restaurant-quality dishes out of a small box.

And yet more and more people are joining the food cart community every day. The chefs in this book come from backgrounds of every color. Weve spoken to a former Ivy-League educated lawyer, a death metal sound technician, a plumber of twenty years and restaurant veterans with Michelin star experience under their belts. Some have paid their dues in prestigious culinary institutions and some have gone through their college years eating nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches. Some highlight the food for which their area is known, and some share dishes their parents and grandparents prepared in their home countries.

Food carts come in various forms. There are food carts circled in wagon traintype food pods, food stands in markets and mobile food trucks vying for a spot on the busy streets of their city. But, weve found one unifying characteristic in each person manning these tiny kitchens: passion. Theyre all driven by the desire to share the food they love. Its not a hobby or something that may be fun to try out; its a necessity, like breathing and sleeping. They have a restless need to communicate their very selves to the rest of the world through their cooking, and they wouldnt want to be doing anything else.