Overview
So you've probably read all about the food truck phenomenon that is about to change the face of Sydney's late night eating habits. Anyone even vaguely interested in food (and getting drunk, for that matter) is so excited you would think that Momofuku had just opened in Sydney or something. Not that we don't feel it ourselves – there is nothing like finishing the night on the high point that a well-made taco brings at 3am.
However, with hype building to monstrous proportions, we want to make sure no one is left disappointed. Are the food trucks really prepared to cope with the frenzy of a city of people who really, really like their food and booze?
Concrete Playground puts Georgie Swift from Veggie Patch and Attila Yilmaz from Al Carbón through the wringer to make sure they are prepared for the mayhem to come.
What is your background in the food industry?
AC: The son of a Turkish migrant chef and restaurateur, I learnt first-hand the dedication, devotion and passion one must possess to survive in this industry. From the age I could reach the tables, I worked beside my father, whose passion for food was infectious. In the early eighties my father started a food van in Canberra from which he sold his famous doner kebabs on weekends, leaving the week free to look after my younger brother and I. The kebab van was an instant hit and so every weekend I worked beside him in the confined space of a 5 meter food van. We served hundreds of people at the weekend markets and festivals and those times became some of the happiest memories of my childhood and early teens.
What is the philosophy behind your food truck?
VP: The Veggie Patch is devoted to providing high quality vegetarian food using ingredients sourced from local producers. We go by a whole foods philosophy, using unprocessed and unrefined ingredients, with minimal impact on the environment, from our packaging to ingredients. All the wastage from the veggie patch will be made from organic matter and hence composted. Furthermore the van is equipped with solar panels and the engine is powered by the van's used vegetable oil, maintaining a low ecological footprint. Inspired by the 'paddock to plate' movement, the Veggie patch aims to reconnect us to what we eat and where it comes from. This is reinforced visually through the van's artwork, which resembles and farm barn house surrounded by a veggie patch.
AC: A lover of all things South American, I have had a calling towards both the cuisine and lifestyle. My mum thinks this is because a Spanish woman accidentally breast fed me in the Hospital Nursery when I was born, thinking I was her child. Our concept follows a simple formula and pays homage to the Street Taqueros of the Sonoran region of Mexico. Arguably the best tacos come from the mesquite scented hot coals of the region, in particular Hermosillo, where I travelled last year. In Hermosillo, only the best quality meats are marinated, grilled and infused with the scented hot coals of Mesquite and combined with fresh made to order tortillas and a selection of house made specialty salsas and condiments. We cook everything over a two metre BBQ pit filled with hot scented natural mesquite charcoal sourced from overseas. Even our salsas and condiments are made grilling over the same hot charcoal. No sour cream, lettuce or grated cheese here, just fresh, artisan handmade food. Even our tortillas are made fresh!
What are some of the problems you've encountered along the way?
AC: The design process has been long and arduous. Almost every component of our trailer I have designed and drawn myself and, in some instances, fabricated. I am not a trained designer but I taught myself CAD and other design programs to cut down costs, but also because no one would even talk to me about the concept, people thought I was crazy, seriously. Financing the project is also difficult. I'm completely self-funded from savings my wife and I were going to use to buy our first home. The hardest thing for me is finding time to do everything, from design, fabrication, marketing and cooking, I'm a one man team, as my wife has to work and look after our 22 month old. I am so unbelievably happy to be a part of this project that it brings happy tears to my eyes whenever I think about it.
VP: Working out how to generate enough energy from solar power to run all the appliances we need for cooking has been a challenge, but not a problem. We are nearly there!
How are you going to stay up all night?
VP: The Veggie Patch has 4 business owners, so we be able to share the work load between us. It's going to be a busy year for us, but long term we will be employing people to work in the van day-to-day, whilst we continue to create in our studio [for other brand, TMOD].
AC: Twelve years of night shifts in the police force has given me the conditioning to handle that aspect of the job without an issue.
If you run out of supplies within the first hour, do you have a back-up plan?
AC: We have enough refrigeration and supplies on board to last a few hours, we can serve up to 1,000 people with our on-board capacity. If we start to run low, our support/towing vehicle can race to our warehouse/commercial kitchen/party room at Canterbury.
Are you prepared to deal with drunk, potentially dangerous foodies?
AC: I'm a big guy, and talking people down is easy when you know how. I'll just give them a taco and let them enjoy it. It's hard to fight with a mouth full of food and some of our hot salsas will sober you up quick smart. Plus you should see the huge steel skewers and big chopping cleaver we use to chop the meats (Think Chinese BBQ Duck cleaver). No one is messing with us... we hope.
VP: We hadn't really thought about this… Hopefully dangerous foodies stick to doner kebabs.
