People who appreciate the culinary experience of a meal served from a kitchen on wheels can eat like a gourmet this weekend in Manhattan.
The Food Network will be in Manhattan on Saturday and Sunday — graduation weekend at Kansas State University — filming a Season 2 episode of “The Great Food Truck Race,” a show in which food trucks from throughout America compete to avoid being booted off the interstate.
The concept is simple. Seven teams begin the race. They arrive in a designated city with a limited budget. They plan their menu, purchase ingredients locally, and pay for promotions or advertisements. When the selling period ends, the team with the lowest net profit goes home. The surviving teams race on to the next city to begin preparations in a new locale.
The last team standing wins $50,000.
Some of last year’s food truck entries included Crepes Bonaparte, a Fullerton, Calif.-based truck that emulated the process of buying a crepe from a street cart in Paris; Grill Em All, a Los Angeles-based truck that combined heavy-metal music with gourmet hamburgers; Nana Queens, which specialized in puddings and desserts; Non Nom Truck, which specialized in Vietnamese cooking; and Ragin Cajun, which brought New Orleans-style cuisine to the streets of Los Angeles.
Five of this year’s entries will remain in the race when it comes to Manhattan. The teams will be stationed throughout Manhattan and the K-State campus at sites of their choosing. It is up to the teams themselves to promote their locations, but potential patrons will know the distinctive trucks — and their often distinctive proprietors — immediately.
More information is available online at http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-great-food-truck-race/index.html.
