North Carolina Chemist Pivots To Food Truck Entrepreneur

We've had this conversation many times on the radio show over the years.  "What did you want to be when you were growing up?  What did you actually end up doing?"  Rarely do the two match up.  Recently, we've gotten to know country music singer, Matt Stell.  He played college basketball and was accepted to Harvard Medical School, then gave it up to chase his country music dream.

I bring all this up to tell you the story of Tonga Ramseur.  She is a graduate of North Carolina A&T University.  She has a degree in chemical engineering.  So how is she putting this to use?  Working in the medical industry perhaps?  Maybe in the petroleum business?  Uh, no.  Tonga is running a food truck, of course!

The inspiration came when Tonga's sister had cancer.  Inspired to cook healthy food, Ramseur started her "Etho-Indi" vegan food truck business that combines her Ethiopian and Indian roots.

Tonga tells WFMY news, "I need to tell people how important it is to eat right, but most importantly, I want to tell people that eating healthy is delicious." 

If you'd like to sample Ramseur's culinary magic, her truck is part of this year's Juneteenth Greensboro Black Food Truck Festival. That's going down this Saturday in downtown Greensboro Center City and LeBauer Park from 5-11pm.

I wonder if any of her chemistry professors from North Carolina A&T will come by for a bite and wonder if THEY made the right career choice in their life?

Love Food Trucks? Who doesn't? It seems like the entire food truck industry has boomed in the last 10-15 years, at least here in North Carolina. And for good reason. Food truck festivals are perfect for when you want to try multiple things- or perhaps your group just can't agree on the same type of food. That's why Food & Wine set out to determine the cities with the best food trucks across the country. And since trying food trucks in every city is a bit of a challenge, they decided to ask the people who know best- their readers! Food & Wine readers voted ten cities the "cream of the crop" as part of the publication's Global Tastemakers awards. And one North Carolina city made the shortlist.

Food trucks are a great way for aspiring chefs and restaurant owners to test the waters without the high overhead of opening a full restaurant. Plus they have the ability to go where the people are ie festivals, concerts, breweries, etc. And then of course there is the novelty and appeal of food trucks for a lot of consumers. I have to admit though, with prices typically comparable to a sit-down restaurant, I'll take that option most every time. But I'm in the minority I know! So which North Carolina city did Food & Wine readers say has the best food trucks? It's one of my favorites!

Yep Raleigh made the list. The North Carolina capital city came in 10th on this list. I actually called Raleigh home for around 4 years (college) and still go back to visit 12-15 weekends a year. But outside of college functions and the NC State Fair, I don't believe I've ever really eaten at a food truck in Raleigh that I can remember. I go to every NC State Football game however and Carter Finley Stadium did recently add an area called "Raleighwood" which features several food trucks. I tend to tailgate or hit up a bar before the games however so I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

But which food trucks should you try in Raleigh? These are the ones specifically mentioned by Food & Wine:

Other cities mentioned include Houston, San Diego, San Fransisco, and the winner- Oakland, California. You can read the full list and highlights here.

Food trucks are showing no signs of slowing down in popularity. And for good reason. There are some delicious street foods that you can get from food trucks, not just your basic food options. Whether it's an oyster po'boy, lamb curry poutine, or Alaskan reindeer sausage. Yeah, I had to google when that last one even was. Plenty of my friends follow food trucks around, going to breweries specifically to eat from the trucks. This surging popularity led Shane Co. to determine the most popular food truck items. To do this they turned to Google Trends. From there they analyzed search volume across 500 food trucks and 1,500+ menu items over the past year to find the favorite food truck orders and cuisine both by state and nationwide.

Many of the favorite food truck items reflect the local cuisine. Some are more basic, and others had me scratching my head about how on earth that item was the most popular. Listen I love brussel sprouts but that's the most popular item in Delaware? I have a hard time believing that. I know one thing I will be participating in these Google search trends trying to find a local vendor for some of these foods. Keep reading to see the most popular item by state including both Carolinas and our neighbors. You'll also find out the ten most popular food truck foods. Read the full Shane Co. article here.

**Based on Google search data in the past 12 months**

Tacos were one of the two most popular items in 10 states:

There are seemingly endless varieties of sandwiches, so of course, it's the second most popular item! This includes lobster rolls in New England, Florida Cuban sandwiches, and North Dakota's favorite Hawaiian pulled pork sandwich.

A conversation the other day led me to the realization that fries might just be my favorite food. So you can bet I'm ordering loaded fries at a food truck. Other popular options include pot roast fries in Arizona and curry fries in Virginia.

Always a classic. North Carolina loves the shrimp burger, other popular options are the Wagyu beef burger and a falafel burger!

You can jazz up a hot dog but it's still a hot dog. But some people love them. Idaho loves its classic corn dog while South Dakota prefers the Sauerkraut dog.