Street food: The time is now

Above: The logos of ChicagoFoodTrucks.com and TOC's Street Food Now! campaign. Hungry minds think alike.

The people have spoken, and a zeitgeist has emerged: This is the time for street food. More specifically, this is a time for street food—food trucks in particular—to emerge, since our city's street food culture is badly lacking. In September, I wrote about how a single, kitchenless food truck almost created a riot on the corner where TOC's offices are located. Since then, the city's collective desire for food trucks has only grown.As evidence, there's ChicagoFoodTrucks.com, a site (and twitter feed) launched last night by chef Phillip Foss and another chef (who prefers anonymity). Their goal: Collect the people's opinions about food trucks, and help get some of our archaic laws changed.

And then there's Street Food Now, TOC's own campaign to raise awareness about the city's street food scene (or lack thereof), food trucks and all. Launching early next month, Street Food Now will feature news and feature stories about every aspect of Chicago street food.

Together—and with whatever other advocates pop up—we'll take to the streets. And hopefully, in time, we'll be able to eat something while we're there.

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Also check out: 100 things you should be eating in Chicago