Some foods are so delicious, a journey to the end of the earth would be a dietary mandate, or, on a smaller scope, would necessitate a cross-country road trip. Food is the impetus that makes us mobile; the hunter-gatherer in us tells us so. Traveling across the United States to find the best kitchens on wheels, author Heather Shouse captures a moment in time, during this new wave of food truck fever, to tell the stories of the people trucking along with their talents and traditions in tow.
Anyone who thrills to the chase of tracking down a kimchi quesadilla or a crème brûlée crepe should pack Shouse’s Food Trucks: Dispatches and Recipes from the Best Kitchens on Wheels, when embarking on the trek. Part travel companion, cookbook, and counterculture history book, Food Trucks delivers on more than 100 trucks and carts from coast-to-coast. By no means is it an exhaustive compendium, Shouse advises, as new trucks are coming and going, menus are rotating, and permits are changing, but it is a selective source. “I wanted to find distinct concepts and make sure the trucks weren’t duplicative,” says Shouse, a senior food and drink correspondent for Time Out Chicago and bona fide BBQ judge. But the most important thing was that the food she found had to be delicious. Inclusion in the book meant each truck had to meet Shouse’s criteria of serving signature, delicious dishes and being run by people with a story to tell.
In North Hollywood, she met Hortenzia Hernandez, the Oaxacan woman in her early sixties working the pestle and mortar at Antojitos Mi Abuelita. When asked for her mole recipe for the book, Hernandez declined. “That one is sacred,” Shouse explains. “People come every week just for her Oaxacan recipe.”...
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