The Next Big Food Thing

Peter Reinhart has been the Contributing Food Editor for Uptown Magazine since the first issue, mentoring young food writers for publication in these pages and, occasionally, writing pieces of his own. He is a four-time James Beard Award winner for his books and for his breads. He is also the Chef on Assignment for Johnson & Wales University, which means he teaches and speaks at conferences and venues across the country as well as in Charlotte at his home campus. One of the perks of his travels is that he sees important food trends forming before the waves sweep the nation. We sat down with Peter recently after he returned from the International Association of Culinary Professionals Annual Conference, held this year in Portland, Oregon.

Uptown: You get to travel all over the country in your role as Chef on Assignment for Johnson & Wales. What are you seeing in the way of food trends that may be coming our way?
PR: Different regions of the country tend to pick up on various trends at their own pace and with their own regional spin, such as we saw with the organic and the farm-to-table trends a few years ago. The trends tend to start on the West Coast, then slingshot to big cities like New York and Chicago, and then radiate their way out to other cities where chefs or savvy food businesses make them their own. In the south, Birmingham (Ala.) has recently been very influential, as well as Charleston and also Chapel Hill. Charlotte has also gotten on board, albeit later than the leading food towns, with its growing participation in the Slow Food Movement as well as the growth of local farmers markets and food growers. But we’re in danger of missing what promises to be the next big trend, perhaps one of the most exciting developments in years. I’m talking about the food cart phenomenon.

Uptown: What on earth is the food cart phenomenon? Are you talking about taco trucks?
PR: Taco trucks are a tiny tip of the iceberg. I’m really talking about mobile food trucks inside of retro-fitted carts, complete with cooking gear, grills, ovens and the like. These are movable feasts capable of turning out a limited menu, but they do it extremely well. Let me give you some perspective. In Portland, Oregon, which is probably the epicenter of the food cart scene in the U.S., there are over 250 food carts, featuring every sort of food imaginable. Wood-fired pizza trucks, Korean fusion taco trucks (imagine a carne asada taco garnished with kim chee – it’s fantastic!), French fried potato trucks that also serve poutine (the national potato dish of Canada – crispy, twice-fried potatoes covered with fresh cheese curds and brown gravy. Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Yes, it’s a gut bomb but it sure tastes good!), health food cart, wild and crazy food carts, dessert trucks, smoothie carts, Cuban sandwich carts, crepe trucks, and on and on. Portland has even designated empty parking lots, licensing some of these food cart operators to permanently park there. In other words, they’ve created a number of “food cart courts,” which become instant festivals for anyone looking for fun and fellow food freaks. During business hours you see a lot of businessmen eating at the carts – it’s the new power lunch forum.

Uptown: Sounds like fun – when are we going to see those here?
PR: Well, currently we have one food cart here that could be competitive in Portland. That’s the Harvest Moon Grille, which could hold its own anywhere, especially with their amazing pork and grits <editor’s note: see page __ in this issue for a story about this cart>.  The problem is that the folks who issue permits are worried about crime and, probably, also about the unfair competitive advantage that low-overhead carts present to what we call brick and mortar restaurants. It’s a delicate balance to make something like a food cart scene work. There were probably a few negative incidents around some of the taco trucks awhile back and that kind of soured the authorities on the idea of food carts in general. But the other side of the coin is that these food carts are fabulous entrepreneur laboratories, maybe the first step to a later incarnation as a true brick and mortar restaurant. This is what happened in Portland, as the food carts there have become part of the cultural identity for the city, highlighting the creativity and diversity of the area. There’s so much excitement and buzz about the carts there that some of the trucks move to different locations every night and Twitter to their followers, who show up en masse, like a spontaneous rave or happening. We have nothing like that here yet.

Uptown: Do you see something like that ever happening here?
PR: I’m not sure. In my six years living in Charlotte I’ve seen a growing interest in food and such, but we’re also somewhat conservative and don’t really like to take too many out-of-the-box chances. But I could see it happening in areas of town like NoDa and, if we get the Center City year-round farmers market we’ve been hearing about, it could be an ideal location for something like a food cart court. Once the city makes it easier for the start-up cart operations to do business we could see all that latent creativity come to fruition.

Uptown: Yes, but do you think it will really happen?
PR: Let me put it this way: If we don’t do it first, Atlanta probably will and then we’ll just be playing catch-up, still waiting for the next wave. I’m convinced that this is the biggest wave, the one we’ve been waiting for. It’s already happening in L.A., Chicago and New York City. In fact, some of the brick and mortar restaurants in Los Angeles and New York are now reverse engineering it – they’re sending out their own food carts to capitalize on the interest and also to allow them to make some fun foods that they don’t do in their restaurants. I hope we catch this wave soon so I don’t have to go to Atlanta or one of those other cities for my kim chee taco. I’m telling you, though, it’s worth the drive.