Food Truck Frenzy: An Analysis of the Gourmet Food Truck in Philadelphia
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2015
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology
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Thesis (B.A.)
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en_US
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Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
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Abstract
For my senior thesis I am going to investigate the rampant rise in popularity of gourmet food trucks in the past six or seven years. When I first arrived at Swarthmore, our campus was visited by one upscale cupcake truck during the spring semester that had to endure a line of almost 150 people and ran out of ingredients within an hour and a half. Now our campus is being visited multiple times a semester by these food trucks, which are being contracted whenever the school needs a novel, different, and pleasurable eating experience. Meanwhile, the town of Swarthmore is busy organizing events such as the Food Truck-a-thon where almost a dozen food trucks leave their local corners in Philadelphia to come ten miles away to a tiny college town to feed eagerly awaiting customers. This is not just happening in Philadelphia and Swarthmore either, this is occurring across the country. Events like the Food Truck-a-Thon simply did not exist four years ago. To me, this makes the popularity of food trucks very apparent; this trend has established itself in the American food system. I am curious to see as to why these gourmet food trucks have made such an impact on the American culinary scene. I want to understand how street food has transformed from our classic notions of hot dog stands and ice cream trucks to a new contemporary version of “meals on wheels” that is very reflective of the society that has created it.