By Chuck Thomas  |  The Intelligencer
For 45-year-old Bristol resident Michael Gerenda, the thought of opening a food truck was simply the next step in what has been an interesting food-based journey.
After attending culinary school, Gerenda spent more than a decade working as a chef in various restaurants across the country.
That in turn led him to a position with a local high school as a culinary arts teacher, which he held for 12 years.
But it wasn’t until retiring from teaching last year that he took the plunge and invested in the ever-growing world of food-on-wheels.
This year, Gerenda unveiled his purple Grumman-made truck and named it Foodtruck7.
View Video Here
The name happens to come partly from his other business, 7Summits, which makes various granola and trail mix products.
He even gives each diner a cookie made from his granola.
I asked Gerenda what sets his menu apart from other food trucks in the area.
“People want healthy food,” he said.
So healthy food it is and the menu on the board when I visited him certainly echoed what he said.
A Mauikado with “roosted” chicken is a term Gerenda coined for his offering which features what the rest of us call roasted chicken.
These sandwiches also feature avocado, lime juice and fresh cucumber.
There was also a Farmer Kim’s Vegan Wrap, as well as a salad offering and the General Tsao’s Burrito, the dish we feature on this week’s episode of “Eat This!”
This burrito, which starts with a spinach tortilla, is filled with ground turkey that is mixed with Gerenda’s General Tsao’s Sauce, fried rice and topped with an Asian slaw.
I liked the sweet, yet zesty taste, and the crunch of the Asian slaw was a nice follow-up to the rice and ground turkey.
It was a refreshing grab-and-go lunch on a hot summer day that was made only better when Gerenda whipped up one of his iced coffees to wash it down.
For now, Gerenda is staying away from the city, where food trucks are easier to find.
“I’m staying smart and staying out in the burbs,” Gerenda says.
Like many food trucks, they’re always on the move, so check out its Facebook page — facebook.com/foodtruck7— to see where it’ll be next and check out our show on this brand-new food truck by visitingwww.letseatthis.com.
