Food trucks are becoming more and more of a thing around the world. They’ve always been a part of any dense urban environment, but during and after COVID, they’ve been more popular than ever! People want to eat good food, and they want to do it whenever and wherever they can.
What street food is most prevalent in food trucks in the UK?
This has long been a fascinating question because the population of the UK is so diverse. This means that as well as having a number of traditional dishes that you might find in a countryside pub, there are also fantastically flavorful and complex dishes served from food trucks across the UK, designed to be something new and wonderful.
Arguably, the most famous street food in the UK is fish and chips. A fish and chip shop, or a fish and chip food truck, is something that will do well anywhere since the cuisine is so ubiquitous.
To this end, a number of fish and chip food trucks have started serving increasingly unusual food for a traditional chip truck. Most commonly, this can be seen with the increased use of vegetarian and vegan options, including things like halloumi, typically battered and fried.
The other food that is often vying for the ‘most popular in the country’ spot is curry, specifically British Indian Restaurant (BIR) curries, made to a set recipe and rarely altered.
The most common curry dish in the UK is chicken tikka masala. This is a richly spiced, stew-style dish, which is composed of chicken in a rich, thick sauce. While this could certainly be enjoyed as a street food, it’s commonly not since it would have to be eaten from a bowl or a small container.
Instead, BIR street food is much more commonly more miniature, fried items that would typically be a side on the menu of a restaurant. This is usually samosas, onion bhajis, or pakoras. All of these are richly-spiced, deep-fried delicacies and may be served by any number of different UK food trucks.
Where can you find food trucks in the UK?
Food trucks in the UK can have a hard time finding a spot to park. This is because the UK and the US have streets that are so differently designed from one another. British streets are commonly narrow and winding, having been built around ancient houses and other buildings. American streets, however, are more commonly wide and long, with plenty of room to park up a food truck and offer food to passers-by.
This means that a lot of the time, UK food trucks are bound to parking lots and dedicated spots. For example, it’s widespread for ice cream trucks to park in a car park, lay by, or turn a circle to ensure that they won’t be disturbed while they’re serving food to passers-by.
The most common place to find food trucks would be in dedicated spaces for that exact purpose. For instance, there are a number of cities that dedicate a certain amount of their central, pedestrianized areas to food trucks for a few days per week. This is commonly seen in busier cities, where a range of cuisines and cultures might park up their food truck and serve food.
Why can food trucks in the United Kingdom have an uphill battle?
Well, there are a number of reasons for this. Mainly, these reasons are architectural and cultural.
The architectural reasons are straightforward indeed – UK towns and cities aren’t designed for food trucks or even food vendors at all. A significant reason for this is that, for a long time, cars were something exceptionally luxurious for a person in the UK, to the extent that even in the 1950s and 60s, a family would often not have a car or only have one.
This meant that pedestrianized areas and public transport had a much more significant impact on the way Brits got around. This still stands today, with shops typically lining one particular street in a town or city – the high street. This street is almost always totally pedestrianized, so there are few to no food trucks on it.
Secondly, the cultural demand for food trucks is relatively tiny. At the same time, there are often selected areas that are designated food truck areas that will usually only be for one or two high-traffic days per week.
Still, food trucks are considered something of a novelty, meaning that it can be tricky to find an ongoing niche as a UK food truck. Typically, food trucks that do well have larger profit margins – they can afford to sell for only a couple of days per week because they’re making quite a lot of money in those days.
How do UK food trucks win that battle?
Well, in truth, UK food trucks are already winning that battle. Slowly but surely, there are more and more portable food trucks in the UK, starting off small with trucks serving coffee and burgers and diversifying over time.
Something awe-inspiring that has taken place recently is that UK food trucks have begun to change size and shape with time to accommodate tighter squeezes in pedestrianized town centers, as well as longer journeys between cities.
Most notably, this change in size has manifested in horse boxes. These are ubiquitous things around the world, and due to their relatively low price, low weight, and general ease of personalization, they are becoming more and more popular with time.
Horseboxes are also well-suited to the task in that they can be unhitched from their towing vehicle and instead pushed and pulled with little more than the strength of one or two people. In turn, this means that they can be much more versatile and can be presented in any number of locations.