My cousin is currently in Italy for her honeymoon, so I DMed her and asked her to fill me in on how great the Italian food is. Predictably, it’s legit, with the highlight (for me anyway, I’m not sure about her) being that almost every meal starts with a very lite pasta appetizer, which I could 100% get behind. Another standout? She said that on hotter days, vendors often sold bowls of watermelon on the streets, which is an excellent idea for a hot day when you want something but not something filling. I’d totally buy some street watermelon, especially because she said it was reasonably priced. Remember when street food used to be reasonably priced?
Back when I was in college, on the hallowed grounds of the University of Scranton (notable alums include myself and Jim Halpert), there was a food truck called the Meaner Weiner. I’m racking my brains, and I swear that while they didn’t actually have hot dogs of any type, they did have a sandwich known as the Fat Bitch, which was chicken fingers, fries, and mozzarella sticks on a hoagie roll, smothered in marinara sauce. It was like $4.00 and my first introduction to street food.
My second street food love was another Scranton food truck—this one unnamed—that served a delicious middle-eastern inspired chicken and rice for something like $6.00. And then, of course, there are the hot dog and breakfast sandwich vendors of New York and Philly that truly do the lord’s work.
But something has happened to street food—all over, really—but especially in Asheville. It got trendy. And stupid.
I’ve complained about the price of food trucks before and how overpriced food trucks, in my ever so humble opinion, sort of belay the point of food trucks in general—if I’m going to throw down $20.00 plus tip, I’d rather just go to a sit-down restaurant, ya know?
Where can one eat quickly and easily on the streets for a reasonable price? Why do hot dogs have to have kimchi, pickled okra, and gourmet ketchup on them? WHY DO SEAFOOD FOOD TRUCKS EXIST FIVE HOURS FROM THE CLOSEST SHORE?
I know times are changing, and inflation is real, but I miss the days of cheap, no-frills street food, and I think I’m feeling especially emotional about this as my beloved Taqueria Munoz food truck—where you could get two tacos for $7.50 plus tip—parted ways with Zillicoah, which is a loss I will deeply feel.
Editor’s Note: The word on the street is that they now appear somewhat regularly at Turgua, which is much closer and, therefore, more convenient for me than Zillicoah. Is god real?
Despite my bitching—which on a larger-picture scale is relevant (although the street-dog vendors of NYC and Philly continue doing the lord’s work)—there still are several Asheville food trucks where one go and not break the bank, including the Foothills trucks at RAD and Biltmore Village HiWire locations where I’m never mad at $10.50 for one of their delicious cheeseburgers and the recently discovered Melt Your Heart, which has very reasonably priced grilled cheese sandwiches. I just wish there was more.
Editor’s Note: The header photo is from Iron and Oak Brisket Company, which is food-truck adjacent…and great.
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