Many of the locally based eco-food trucks that were popular when the food truck craze first hit the scene seem to have become a thing of the past these days. For example, food trucks like Good Karma Kitchen and Green House Food Truck, which were the biggest names it seems, have either become brick and mortar are just offer professional catering services these days.
In fact, the much loved Green House Food Truck, one of the first Dallas-based trucks around can now be found inside Northpark mall offering a fresh juice bar and Blue Bottle Coffee; the new name is Green House Market.
Last summer the Green House Food Truck folks did take the all-electric truck out for a spin with a variety of natural and healthy choices, but according to Robin Siegel this summer the truck has become what they are calling a food cart, it’s electric and is currently parked at Northpark by Macy's on the inside. Siegal says “It is street legal so it can be inside or outside and since it is electric, there's no waste.”
The other popular healthy food truck choice, Good Karma Kitchen is also a no-show these days since the owners expanded the catering and personal chef side of things, unfortunately to the demise of the rolling truck business.
However, there is one food truck still out there that is offering 100% healthy options. It’s called Vegan Noms (http://vegannoms.com/) baking and offering a variety of fresh cookies, cupcakes, muffins and bars. No animal products are used in the baking of the nom-nom good treats and Chief Baker and owner Allison Catalani says “the concept just sprouted from the idea of vegan desserts, which requires a lot of particular ingredients that just happen to be readily available in stores as organic. It adds the extra "touch" to our slogan and marketing, that we can say we are vegan and organic.”
Primarily found in Dallas, but occasionally heading to the suburbs and surrounding towns, Catalani has been operating Vegan Noms for a little over a year and says “customers are overall impressed that their dessert has healthy qualities and it tends to be a selling point in encouraging them to try things. It's difficult to say if organic is popular, I don't think people hunt out food trucks with organic food, or do they really expect to find organic offerings on a food truck, but they are always excited to see it's an option on my truck.”
Other food trucks in Dallas touting some type of healthy spin include Whats Cook-N Chef offering limited veggie options, the Lean Machine serving Denton with what is reported as calorie-conscious and lower-fat foods or Easy Slider advertising regionally-raised meats and locally-sourced produce.
“In the food truck industry, organic food is not what people are typically looking for in Dallas,” Catalani says regarding the fact that her nutritious and tasty truck is practically the last healthy truck standing. “Most often people in Dallas look for food trucks as "fast food" and do not hunt down a gourmet truck that may sell organic meals. The majority of Dallasites are committed to their favorite local restaurants for vegan, organic or gluten-free or any type of healthy options, they don't expect it from a food truck.”