Diary of a Family Food Truck
The truck screeched to a halt. Brimming with hot and sour soup, the pot flew off the stove and crashed onto the floor creating a chaotic mess. This marked my father’s debut in driving behind the wheel of his newly minted food truck for its inaugural day at City Hall.
My father got up in the predawn hours to prepare the ingredients for this signature Chinese soup. After bringing the pot of broth to a simmer, he carefully loaded it onto the truck. He planned to complete the soup when he arrived at the location he had scouted out a few days in advance.
As he navigated the streets from Chinatown to City Hall, my father, who was still adjusting to the new sensation of operating a truck, applied the brakes a bit too forcefully, resulting in the crash of his gastronomic cargo on board.
After this mishap, my father quickly mastered the art of bringing this behemoth vehicle to a gentle stop.
Over the next year, this truck became a mobile space that immersed my dad in a constant dance of yin and yang. Here, the forces of unbridled capitalism and competition introduced chaos, setbacks and unexpected opportunities that shaped his journey while settling in this country.
