The Native American-owned food trucks taking New Mexico by storm | Food

tLines outside a food truck covered in beige tarps and stickers grow even longer as participants grow at Albuquerque, New Mexico’s annual Brickley Beer Festival for lunch. While waiting in line, attendees try to choose between a turkey sandwich with agave fruit syrup, a salad topped with sprouted quinoa and amaranth Cereal and a host of other options. The food truck is Manco, and its chef, Ray Naranjo, is one of many Native American chefs who have redefined the food truck scene in the Southwest.

While Native American restaurants like yours And the Wahbiba Kitchen They got it recently national attentionIndigenous-owned food trucks forge their own path – traveling the dusty highways and backroads of New Mexico delivering Indigenous recipes to customers.

New Mexico has it Third largest Native Americans in the United States. But few of the state’s restaurants are actually Aboriginal-owned. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the restaurant industry, indigenous chefs are increasingly turning to food trucks to start their own businesses.

Many of these food trucks are set up to provide “four-star dining experiences” to places you might not otherwise get to, says Dr. Ariel D. Smith, founder and host. Researcher at the food truck Podcast.

Smith says many people of color — who have been marginalized by wealth for generations — choose to open food trucks because they are more affordable than restaurants. Because of this, there is something unique…