Street food lovers, who are now infatuated with food trucks, tend to forget that the prototypes of American motorised bars have been roaming the streets of Polish cities since the 1990s. The homely looking trailer Niewiadów N126 was exactly such a bar, and they offered hot baguettes sprinkled with cheese-like substance and mushrooms and smothered in the cheapest ketchup available. Niewiadów specialised in roast chicken, waffles and ice cream.
It is fair to say that Poland has its own tradition of motorised bars and that food trucks are not such a novelty at all. What has changed, however, is the attitude of Polish customers, which is why motorised bars upgraded from second-rate fast-food stands to the street food avant-garde of the day. Such bars are now selling good food, and their owners compete with each other to provide the best cuisine and the best décor available.
Taco Mergency
Food trucks have become the symbol of alternative lifestyle in the US. Those who go against the grain open their own motorised restaurants. Taco Mergency, an ambulance converted into a taco bar, was set up by Tom (Jason Segel), the main character in the romantic comedy "The Five-Year Engagement" and Violet's (Emily Blunt) fiancé. He follows his beloved from San Francisco down to Michigan and, embittered with the prolonged engagement and frustrated with work (instead of being a chef in a restaurant, he is a "sandwich artist" in a supermarket), he decides to set up a business of his own. He cannot afford to open his own real deal restaurant, so he decides to buy a clapped-out ambulance to convert it into a motorised bar.
"Chef", which is now in cinemas, tells a similar story. Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) works as a chef in a prestigious restaurant in Los Angeles. He gets the sack after a row with an influential Internet food critic. His friend gives him a clapped out car, which he turns into a Cuban motorised restaurant. He soon makes his name in the whole of the US.
Sausages, coffee and organic cakes
You can spot food trucks as they roam the streets of Wroclaw: they serve coffee and muffins, hamburgers, pizza and hot sausages.
Motorised bars serve their specialities at Poland's most popular musical festivals such as the Orange Warsaw Festival or Opener Festival. In place they have managed to drive away traditional tents with barbecues and pea-soup. They can also be found at seaside resorts, where they sell ice cream, pancakes and waffles. Food trucks serve a wide variety of mouth-watering dishes. They serve meat, vegetarian dishes, healthy food and a selection of global cuisines, including Mexican, Chinese or Italian. A food truck served delicious cakes and coffee at one of the editions of the Survival Art Festival.
Pasibus, whose customers can watch chefs as they prepare their burgers, can be found in the area of the Arkady Wrocławskie Shopping Centre. Their Klasyczny Wiesio is served with onions, bacon, tomatoes, pickled cucumber, fried eggs and delicious sauce, while their Red Hot Chilli Willy is so hot that it makes you cry. Prices range from 14 to 22 PLN for a burger.
Mobicafe is yet another motorised bar to be found in the city. This motorised café stops at several places, but most of the time it can be found in Partynice during horsing events. Taho Cafein turn often appears in Wyspa Słodowa. Motorised cafes serve fresh coffee in a variety of types and flavours, you can also add a number of syrups to enhance the flavour of your coffee.
Wroclaw's Ekojarmark and Wyspa Słodowa are often visited by Happy Little Truck, which has a wood-fired oven and serves three types of pizza: Bianca, Blu and Margherita.
Bratwursty, a Fiat Ducato that serves barbecued sausages in bread rolls or on the plate, often parks at Plac Nowy Targ or under the Iglica in the Centanary Hall's vicinity. You can also enjoy Dutch herring as well as cheese fried with leeks and served with hot or mayonnaise sauce.
66 American Burger often parks on ul Drobnera and serves a wide selection of burgers such as Oklahoma, Washington, San Francisco, New York Classic and Texas. Prices in the menu range from 13 PLN.
All the way from Texas
A legend has it that the idea of food trucks comes from the American cattle drover Charles Goodnight, who served his food to cowboys from a horse-drawn truck in Texas. His menu included dishes made with beans, corn and pumpkins, beef steaks and bison steaks, both seasoned with onions, garlic and peppers. He is believed to have invented food trucks in the US. Several million food trucks are now roaming America. Fat Darell, a famous sandwich served in Times Square in New York, has been awarded the title of the Best Sandwich of the American Nation from Maxim. American viewers can watch the reality show "The Great Food Trucker" to follow the competition for the best food truck in the US.
Food trucks are still considered a novelty in Poland. To set up a business such as this, one has to face a number of regulations and formalities, obtain a permit from sanitary and municipal authorities. Food trucks are not allowed to park in the vicinity of gastronomic outlets that pay for spaces in which summer gardens have been installed. For this reason, the owners of motorised restaurants strike deals with the owners of private properties in which they can park their cars. Unfortunately, this is not possible everywhere. The owners of traditional restaurants consider food trucks to be their competitors.
A culinary ride of a lifetime
Ten vehicles from several Polish cities have confirmed their participation in the food truck rally on 9–10 August. They include: 66 American Burger, Happy Little Truck, Taho Cafe (organisers of the rally), Mobilna Gastromachina from Łódź, Zapieksy Wyborowe from Gliwice, Pan Japan from Warsaw, Pasta Mobile from Warsaw, Co ja ciacham from Warsaw and Wurst Kiosk from Warsaw. While the first day of the rally will be held on 9 August from 2 pm at Kafe Plaża (next to the Grunwaldzki Bridge), the second day will start on 10 August at 1 pm at the Horse Race Track in Partynice.
Agnieszka Kołodyńska
