Sydney, AU: Keep on Trucking! Sydney Food Trucks Recognised for Rethinking City

By   Contributor | SydneyMedia.com

Sydney’s fleet of food trucks has won the respected FBi Radio Remix the City award for creative use of public space.

The moveable feasts scooped the category, which celebrates ‘an event, person or team who’ve creatively used, created or recreated a physical space, location or landmark in this city, making it a creative destination’ in the annual Sydney Music, Arts and Culture (SMAC) Awards.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore congratulated the chefs and truck operators, the food critics, the mobile app developer and City of Sydney staff on a remarkable team effort.

“Sydneysiders have devoured the trucks’ fast, fresh and fun take on street food,” the Lord Mayor said.

“I’m not surprised because the idea for food trucks originally came from the Sydney community.

“We asked people who live, work and visit the city what kind of nightlife they wanted and one consistent response was for better options for eating out late at night.

“This award is really significant for us, because the food trucks are part of our long-term program to improve Sydney’s late-night culture – it really is about rethinking what kind of city we want.”

The food trucks trial emerged from public consultation with Sydneysiders about the city’s late-night culture.

A handful of innovative food businesses were selected to take to the streets, with the City cutting red tape to allow the restaurants on wheels to trade. The City also provided more than a dozen sites to get them started.

The first truck started operating in May last year. There are now eight trucks on the road, serving crowds of hungry diners every day in squares, parks and other spots where good food options were missing in the past.

Not surprisingly, the trucks have been a smash hit. The City’s free smartphone app  ̶  sharing real-time details about truck locations and menus  ̶  has been downloaded more than 28,000 times since it launched in September, and was rated as one of Apple’s hottest apps of 2012.

The Sydney food trucks also won The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide award for innovation last year.

Now in its fifth year, the SMAC Awards recognises the artists, musicians, cultural organisations, venues, promoters and creative people who keep Sydney’s cultural heart beating.

This is the third year the City has won in the Remix the City category. Art & About Sydney took top honours in the category in 2010, while Art & About’s I Heart Kings Cross won the same award in 2009.

Another Art & About feature, the ‘raining house’ installation called I Wish You Hadn’t Asked by James Dive and The Glue Society, was nominated for this year’s award in the Best Arts Event category. The award was won by the Museum of Contemporary Art’s ArtBar Series.