North York Central Library Blog

Street food has been around a long time. It is very popular in some places, like the dai pai dong’s in Hong Kong and street food stands in Vietnam and India.

Another form of street food is food trucks. In the past few years food
trucks in North America has become extremely popular with ones popping up
everywhere and television shows on the Food Network dedicated to finding the best ones.

I have to admit that my food truck experiences are very
limited. They only include hot dogs and ice cream. Not at all fascinating or
qualify for the food truck craze. The real
food trucks consist of unique and gourmet options. Like, chicken gyros, lobster
rolls and Baja fish tacos. Not your regular hot dog and fries.

One reason for my lack of experience is because of the strict
regulations surrounding food trucks in Toronto making it less accessible compared to major U.S. cities like New York and Los Angeles. And
the people of Toronto are fighting back. Last month, a group set up a guerrilla
food cart at city hall to raise awareness of the current restrictive street food bylaws.

Despite the strict regulations, people are still hungry for food trucks.
Both Chatelaine and Toronto Life lists the best food trucks to experience in Toronto and Ontario. There
are also apps that track food trucks by listing their hours and locations from Toronto
Food Trucks and Street Food App.

Hungry for more? The library also has books about street
food and food trucks:

You can access these e-books online with your library card:

If you want to start your own food truck business,
there are books for that too:

For now, the easiest place to find food trucks are at festivals in the city. Starting today, the Luminato Festival features a number of food trucks for people to enjoy until June 23rd at the Luminato Lounge Featuring Food Truck Eats.

Have you eaten at a street food stand or food truck? What were your experiences?