The Food Trucks Shift Into Gear

It can be hard to pin down the new New York City food truck. What is in essence a remarkably simple premise—a large conveyance vending comestibles to willing consumers—has, like any other endeavor that dare disturb the New York City universe, been rendered a complicated and ill-defined affair. Are food trucks a "fad?" Are they just for "foodies," or are they for anyone desirous of 3-for-$7 tacos, whether they come with kimchi or not? Are they harmful or helpful to neighborhood economies? Should trucks be treated by the authorities as restaurants, or as something else?

Truth is, no one's really sure. The only certainty seems to be that right now many New Yorkers like them, and very much so. So while food trucks became an instant city fixture after surfacing in 2007, from a planning perspective they have in many ways remained in neutral, subject to a seemingly ad-hoc city policy and the attentions of intermittently unsympathetic business owners and neighborhood associations.