I would consider myself an Austinite the same way people from New Jersey consider themselves New Yorkers. And that’s not a diss to New Jersey people, by the way, I too understand what it’s like to live just outside a much cooler city than my own. I am from Cibolo, smack dab in between Austin and San Antonio, so I understand times two actually. I’ve yet to meet a single person who knows my hometown’s location, but I’ve also yet to meet a single person who’s never heard of the Alamo. While San Antonio and the Riverwalk are cool and all, I’m not here to talk about tourist traps. I’m here to talk food. More importantly, food truck food, the best kind of food if we’re really honest with ourselves.
The food truck industry is worth over $2 billion dollars in revenue and continues to
see growth at a rate of 5.4% while normal restaurant fronts are starting to fall behind with only 4.3%. We can thank cowboys for the origins of these mobile food stops, well
them and their canvas-covered chuckwagons that is. By the 1890s food wagons could be seen outside of universities like Harvard and Yale, targeting college students with cheap and ready-to-eat sausages. But arguably the first modern-day food truck can be traced back to 1936 with the Wienermobile, famously selling Oscar Mayer hot dogs across the continental United States. From there, the food truck craze only began to grow bigger and better. By the 1950s ice cream trucks started touring around neighborhoods bringing refreshing joy to kids and by 1974 a young Raul Martinez opened up the first ever taco truck. By 2008, the modern-day food truck revolution was in full swing.
Nowadays, you can get just about anything out of a food truck and I see no better place to do that than in Austin. According to the official Austin website, there are over 1,200 food trucks all across the city. While this only puts Austin at number seven for most food trucks per capita (with Portland, Orlando, and Denver taking the top spots) there is the added bonus of these trucks being owned and operated in Texas, where everything is bigger, better, and well worth the commute from my suburban home. I’m on the mission to find the best food trucks (across the world someday) but for now, we are sticking to my backyard. If you’re looking for the best breakfast bun, after-game celebration spot, or even just a nice plate to post on your Instagram story this is the place to be. They say to write about what you know and I know I love food trucks, so stick around and join me on this journey. We’re going to be hitting all the major spots and hopefully discovering some hidden gems along the way as well. This is Foodie and Fuel, where I’m hungry and my dad is buying, I mean joining. Let’s start eating.
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