A Latin food truck, La Lola Loca, recently came to UF’s campus granting students an opportunity to trade their daily routine of Chick-fil-A lines at the Hub and Broward Dining for a sultry taste of Latin America.
Though for those who enjoy the meals-on-wheels, eating Latin food day after day may become a little bland – even with some Latin spice.
In metropolitan cities like Miami, Los Angeles and New York, food trucks have become the newest trend among dining experiences. Gone are the days of FroYo and cupcake shops. Trendy Miami residents would not be caught dead in a FroYo shop but can always be found scanning their credit cards via an iPhone at a food truck merchant provides.
New York Magazine recently did a feature on “The 25 Best Food Trucks” featuring rolling falafel, dumpling, pizza and everything inbetween trucks. New York, being such a huge city, has a plethora of exciting food trucks. They have everything from waffle trucks to whoopie pie trucks. Most of the businesses have Twitters and Facebooks, so truck fans can know where the food is headed to long before the crowd rushes toward the delicious scents of Mexican or Asian food.
More food truck options on UF’s campus could allow students to try independent bakeries, restaurants and cafés that they would normally only commute to by car. A student can fall in love with a pumpkin whoopie pie and purchase them every week without ever visiting the physical location.
Students are also busy and on the go. A food truck would provide a speedy lunch stop for students who aren’t willing to wait in an unbearably long Subway line. There would be nothing like seeing a cheesesteak truck roll by right after a triple-block class.
Additionally, all humans love niche foods by nature. The food trucks in Miami, New York and LA always managed to take something simple, like a grilled cheese, and turn it into something extraordinary (think tomato, apple and bacon grilled cheese). Food trucks also allow companies to perfect its token food of choice and become all-knowing experts for its customers. For instance, we as a society are convinced that a taco truck that only has tacos must have the best tacos.
College students are the prime demographic for food trucks because not only are they constantly eating, but they are constantly craving cheap food that is not a sodium-ridden Cup Noodles. By delivering this right to high foot traffic areas, any student would stop for a food truck selling succulent french fries.
Though Gainesville is far from a metropolitan area, college students may very well become the face of the food truck industry.
College students would never turn down the opportunity to stuff their faces full of gooey chocolate chip heaven after the cookie truck came around for an afternoon parade.
