Street Eats

The lunch truck. For some of the owners, it’s their American dream. For many Temple students, it’s their need for Pepto-Bismol.

Clearly, the latter is an exaggeration. What would Temple be without its lunch trucks? It’s a hypothetical question we never want to learn the answer to, which is why The Temple News is honoring these hard-working restaurateurs by bringing you the 2008 Lunchie Awards.

We’ve chosen our 10 favorite lunch trucks on Temple’s campus. Narrowing the list to 10 was a daunting yet tasty task, one that came with much deliberation. We wish we could profile all the trucks, but we’ll have to leave that to our successors.

These mobile restaurants deserve more than their reputations allow. Temple should not take these trucks for granted, as we sometimes do. Imagine going to a rural school like Bucknell or Shippensburg. Your life would be completely different and you wouldn’t even know it.

Temple’s myriad lunch trucks offer a diverse selection of food items that cannot be rivaled by the Sodexo dining facilities.

While the selections may not necessarily be as healthy as we’d find at the vegetarian bar in the Johnson & Hardwick cafeteria, a cup full of grease from the trucks is a critical component of Temple’s college experience.

Temple should take a more active roll in ensuring the happiness of lunch truck owners. Allowing the trucks to accept Diamond Dollars would be a start.

All freshmen who live on campus for their inaugural year are required to have a meal-plan minimum of 10 meals per week, which includes a Diamond Dollars stipend. Freshmen would be more apt to try the lunch trucks if the inconvenience of cash weren’t involved, thus getting them exposed to the lunch truck culture at a younger age.

Younger Owls will quickly learn that a ham, egg and cheese bagel sandwich from the corner truck (with the option of salt, pepper and ketchup) is much better than any breakfast Temple could offer.
The quantity of the all-you-can-eat option at J&H does not always compare to the quality of fresh ingredients at the trucks.

Get to know your lunch trucks. Many owners see Temple students as their children, and you should respect them as your parents.

We’re fortunate at Temple to have choices – from classes we take to food we eat.

Options are endless in many aspects of Temple life, and from a food truck perspective, it’s important to take advantage of every one.