The Great Food Truck Race kicked off this past weekend on The Food Network, featuring seven of the top gourmet food trucks in a reality show competition that takes them across the country. Hosted by Tyler Florence, the series pits the trucks against each other in various challenges in different cities, where they must utilize their marketing, driving and culinary skills to generate the highest sales in 48 hours. The season premiere had the contestants drive down to San Diego for the weekend with a $500 budget to see who could make the most money, with the least profitable truck being cut from the race. Check out my impressions of the show — along with the Asian girls delivering banh mi — after the jump!
Alright, I’m usually not a sucker for reality show competitions, but The Great Food Truck Race poses enough obstacles in their race to keep my interest. Not only do the food trucks face the unusual number of road blocks (no pun intended) in making money, whether it’s finding the best spot to open, convincing new clientele to try their food, dealing with parking restrictions or the daily problems of working in a mobile kitchen — but they’re also subject to the whims of The Great Food Truck Race producers: budget restrictions, not being allowed to use social media [Editors note: OMGWTF?!] and providing completely unfamiliar territories.
I may be biased as an Asian American, a fan of the mobile dining industry that has popped up in Southern California in the past couple years and a diehard lover of banh mi, but my heart is set on the Nom Nom Truck taking home the grand prize of $50,000. The truck, which specializes in Vietnamese sandwiches, was created by Jennifer Green and Misa Chien, who met as undergraduates at UCLA’s Hapa Club and were tired of trekking out to San Gabriel Valley to fulfill their banh mi needs — a traffic congested drive that I completely sympathize with. With their ingenuity in picking a marketable (and adorable) name and understanding their constantly online eaters, Chien and Green have turned their Nom Nom truck into one of the most popular mobile restaurants in the area.Okay, I have no idea what their actual profit numbers are and my knowledge of basic economics are limited to “survey and demand,” but this past July marked their one year anniversary which I consider to be an accomplishment with the crazy number of gourmet food trucks popping up every week. Plus, I’m hereby declaring Vietnamese sandwiches as the Next Big Thing. Nothing can go wrong with a French baguette, pickled vegetables and grilled meat. NOTHING.
Also, Misa and Jennifer are pretty freakin’ hot. I rest my case.
So, good luck to the Nom Nom Truck on their journey in The Great Food Truck Race! Kudos to their team for spreading the deliciousness of Asian cuisine and representing the API community on television. The Great Food Truck Race airs Sunday nights at 9 PM on The Food Network.
