By Tammy Marashlian | Signal Assistant City Editor
College of the Canyons students taking winter session classes are in for a treat.
With not enough students to keep the community college’s cafeteria open during the five-week winter session, College of the Canyons officials have partnered with five food trucks to serve students between breaks, COC spokesman John McElwain said.
This week, students were able to purchase crepes, gourmet sandwiches and salads and even freshly made Italian food from the rotating food trucks, which pull onto campus to temporarily set up shop.
Just over 2,000 College of the Canyons students are taking classes during the winter session.
That’s a far cry from the 20,000 students who flood the campus during fall and spring semesters.
The Canyon Country campus won’t get any food truck visits because there are less than 10 winter-session courses offered there, McElwain said, but the campus Maui Wowi kiosk remains open to provide drinks, snacks and sandwiches.
Martin Krueger, a College of the Canyons employee, said he usually visits the campus cafeteria to catch a meal.
Since it’s closed for the month, Krueger decided to try Maria’s Italian Kitchen’s food truck for the first time. Its menu includes Italian classics like lasagna and chicken parmigiana.
Krueger said having the food on campus makes it easier because he doesn’t have to go off-campus to grab breakfast or lunch.
“It’s nice to have something,” Krueger said. “It’s better than nothing.”
The Maria’s Italian Kitchen food truck is scheduled to visit COC four times during the five-week winter session.
This week was the first-time manager Mike Borassi and his food truck have visited COC.
Borassi hopes the partnership with food trucks will give winter session students and COC staff exposure to different types of food.
“You are able to sample all types of cuisine,” he said. “There’s probably a truck for every type of food you can think of.”
