Customers line up at a food truck in Downtown Vancouver.
With the increase in the number of food truck permits issued by the City of Vancouver, new trucks have steadily been popping up all over the city. It would be difficult to miss the long lineups of eager and hungry patrons in front of these trucks. The diversity is endless, with cuisines ranging from Japanese to Middle Eastern cuisine and all kinds of fusion foods. Compared to the street food scene in other countries though, Vancouver could not be more different.
Healthy eats on the street
For Arturo Revuelta, owner of a Mexican food truck, opening a business in the food industry was always a goal. Eight years after immigrating to Canada, his dream was finally realized.
“Mexican food is full of veggies, clean and tasty,” says Revuelta, who hails from Puebla, Mexico.
He does not use a deep fryer and he believes that is one of the reasons his clients keep coming back. He says there is so much street food in Mexico that you can see it for miles after you exit the airport! According to Revuelta, street food staples in Mexico include soft corn tortillas, black bean soup and salsa verde to name a few.
Chu Chu Gordon, food truck owner.
Chu Chu Gorgon started her food truck business after living in Canada for 12 years. She says the only meat that her truck serves is chicken because in Thailand, the population is largely Buddhist and locals often choose not to eat larger animals, even though they are not forbidden from eating beef or pork. Gorgon makes all her own curry sauces and pastes from scratch, much like the way traditional Thai people do in her home country.
“I want people to taste real Thailand food, I don’t go out and buy [sauces and pastes],” she declares.
Gorgon points out that Thai food incorporates a lot of vegetables such as mushrooms, eggplants and bell peppers, which leads her to believe that it is less greasy than other cuisines.
Different tastes
When Jay Ocol wanted to open a restaurant, his mother suggested a street food business instead. That was how his venture was started. As a Canadian-born Filipino, Ocol observed that Filipino restaurants were spread out in Vancouver and not many people knew where they were. Now that he has a food truck and a roaming permit, he can bring Filipino cuisine to Vancouverites. Ocol explains that Filipino food is influenced by Chinese and Indonesian cuisine, as well as Spanish.
“We use a lot of soy sauce, vinegar and garlic so it’s sweet as well as savoury,” he says.
Serving up a fusion of Filipino and Western cuisine, Ocol’s truck features creations such as Philly Cheesesteaks with Filipino twists like the addition of his own homemade banana ketchup, a popular condiment in the Philippines.
Every year, Revuelta tries to visit Mexico, where he exchanges recipes with his brother, another restaurateur. With the wide variety of street food available, Revuelta makes an effort to eat out twice a day so that he can learn from other Mexican food vendors.
“There is so much variety in Mexican food,” he says. “I will never get tired of it!”
Gorgon explains that in Thailand, if you don’t want to cook, different food carts will come by your house every half an hour and offer their wares. It is also easy to start your own street food business.
“If you’re bored of your job, anyone can do cooking on the streets,” she says.
Ocol says that street food in the Philippines is very accessible and the vendors usually have bicycles or carts that are similar to hot dog stands.
“[Street food vendors] will come up to you while you’re stopped at a red light and offer you their special of the day,” he says.
Fortunately for us in Vancouver, we have the opportunity to sample more than one type of cuisine.
“Street food here is very diverse […], whereas you won’t see other cuisines [on the street] in the Philippines,” Ocol says.
