EDITORS NOTES

SERVING UP FOOD FOR

THOUGHT IN THE AGE OF THE
MOBILE FOOD TRUCK
Christy M. Moroye

Since Volume 13 the editors of Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, the journal
for the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum (AATC), have engaged in the playful yet challenging task of selecting a theme and using it as
the thread with which to weave the introduction to each Issue. Following in the
footsteps of former Co-Editor Bruce Uhrmacher, I am now honored and humbled
to tackle Issue 1 of Volume 17. To sate our hunger for knowledge, we chose the
theme of food, which led David Flinders, our very own Emily Post, to discuss
table manners in Issue 2. Kate Kauper, our new Associate Editor, explores in her
introduction to Outtakes the art of wabi sabi and nding beauty in imperfection.
This intellectual play in which we engage is a reection of the kinds of experiences evident at the annual AATC conference. A lively conversation in the
hallway is likely lled with laughter and intelligent banter between a curriculum
expert and a burgeoning graduate student. This experience of a direct connection
between one producing knowledge and one consuming it is somewhat analogous
to todays frenzy for food trucks, in which the budding chef serves up delicious
fare and hands it directly to the patron. At AATC, such exchanges are not only
Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue
Volume 17, Numbers 1 & 2, 2015, pp. xv000.
Copyright 2015 by Information Age Publishing
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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D. J. FLINDERS

possible, but frequent. In fact, I remember my rst year at AATC in 2004 in Portland, Oregon. I was star-struck when I rst met my now co-editor, David Flinders.
He attended my session, which panicked and thrilled me, and afterward offered
words of wisdom on ecology and curriculum. If AATC were a Food Truck, it
would certainly be eclectic and accessible serving up all sorts of food for thought
across the US.
The Great Recession is credited with the rebirth of the current food truck
movement. As restaurants closed their doors, talented chefs were seeking outlets
for their creativity and recipes (smithsonianmag.com). Thus, the mobile restaurant provided such an outlet. Although not inexpensive (they can cost between
$45,000 and $75,000) food trucks come without the hassle of missed reservations,
capricious waitstaff, and pesky campers who sit all night at their table sipping
water. Rather, the mobile chef and her chosen few take their wares to the park
or festivals or corporate areas and meet directly with their clientele. Such is the
experience of Volume 17, Issue 1. Each author has carefully prepared a specialty
menu item ready to feed your intellectual hunger.
Like food trucks, the articles in Issue 1 conjure images of the intersections of
place, people and culture. The roots of the modern food truck in the US have been
traced to the chuckwagon, originated by Charles Goodnight to feed hungry cowboys (www.history.com). In 1866 he remodeled a wagon to include shelving, food
preparation surfaces, and storage areas for dry goods. The simple but comforting
fare included salted meats, beans, biscuits, powdered milk, and cowboy coffee.
The chuckwagon of the American West had an Eastern counterpart, cooked up by
Walter Scott in 1872. His urban clients included newspaper night workers and was
the prototype for the urban Diner (americandinermuseum.org). Each of these food
pioneers paid particular attention to their local environments and the needs of
their inhabitants. This local focus remains stalwart in the current movement, and
many trucks incorporate locally sourced ingredients to create regional or global
fare. Similarly, through the work of the authors in Issue 1, we explore the complex
interconnectedness of the local, the regional, the national, and the global, and their
implications for teachers and education.
So whats on the menu for Volume 17, Issue 1? For starters, we hear from past
President Barbara Slater Stern, whose Presidential Address entitled Education
and Experience begins with a narrative of her travels to Japan. She asks, echoing
Dewey (1938/1997), how experience and education t together. Using her travels
to Asia as a backdrop, Stern investigates curriculum of place and the stories, or
portions of stories, told and retold. She comments on the dissonance often created
between school and home knowledge and asks how we are to square experience
with education. Sterns exploration of the global leads us to ask questions of our
local curriculum.
Authors Chan, Flanagan, Hermann, and Barnes in Tentative Steps into the
Space of Another: Teacher Challenges of Crossing Cultures to Build Bridges
with Students articulate the ways in which points of unexpected disconnection

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in curriculum reveal important lessons for educators. They provide rich vignettes
through which we consider cultural bridges and boundaries and the assumptions
that intensify their presence in educational spaces.
In the next article, Teaching and Learning of Fractions in Elementary Grades:
Let the Dialogue Begin! authors Gupta and Wilkerson illustrate the tension between locally successful mathematics instruction with the national Common Core
standards. They point out, referencing Good et al. (2013), only 59% of 6th graders with an IQ of 116 could correctly order a set of fractions. According to the
authors, students have difculty conceptualizing fractions as numbers. In contrast to the Common Core Standards for Mathematics, which according to Gupta
and Wilkerson do not signicantly address fractions until third grade, the authors
suggest teaching fractions in earlier grades through the use of manipulatives and
other concrete experiences. In particular, students seemed to benet from slicing
pizzas into various parts, and by dividing up Twizzlers among a certain number of
people. Who knowssuch activities might inspire a budding mobile chef!
In another investigation of place, Page and Kemp in Education, the South, and
the New Hegemonic Bloc ambitiously study how educators beliefs interact with
the identity and denition of the South. Their ndings indicate that the identity
of the South, as understood through the beliefs of educators in rural, urban and
suburban communities, is much more complex and perhaps moderate than stereotypes would suggest.
Investigations of place and space inevitably intersect with questions of social
justice and power structures. Likewise, food trucks, as they push us to reconsider
locality, access, and community, provide us an opportunity to unearth issues of
social justice. In a July 23 post entitled From Loncheras to Lobsta Love: Food
trucks, cultural identity and social justice Julian Agyeman Ph.D., Professor of
Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, blogs:
Because of the way in which food trucks are challenging the distinction between
public and private spacesthey are garnering the attention of urban planners and
policymakers interested in food systems. In particular, much attention has been paid
to food trucks in discussions of community economic development and cultural
identity formation. The relatively low start up costs of mobile food vending means
that it is a business model more accessible to people of diverse backgrounds and
socioeconomic status. (julianagyeman.com)

Thus, even a seemingly mundane act of ordering a sandwich from a truck is

wrought with social implications. Such is the case in Spurlins Tom Tidlers Playground: A Public Curriculum of White Privilege in which he observes through
the lens of Critical Race Theory the ways in which white privilege is experienced
and even perpetuated by children at a suburban mall. His juxtaposition of the
playful environment with the serious and important issues of privilege and social
justice remind us that curriculum may be found in unexpected places.

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D. J. FLINDERS

The theme of social justice and access is picked up by Gutierrez who begins
her article The Day the Blocks Refuse to Stack: A Secret Many Early Childhood Educators Keep to Themselves with a discussion of the interplay between
democracy and equality noting that the level playing eld for which the Obama
administration has so often called remains elusive. If the goal of education in a
democracy is to ensure that hard work will reap rewards, then we have, Gutierrez
argues, a long way to go. As understood through the stories of Head Start programs, we are reminded that teachers like Ms. Carmen provide unfathomable support to our youngest students but are in an unenviable position plagued by lack
of resources. Gutierrez allows the question of why early childhood educators stay
in their positions to linger in the readers minds and offers vignettes of personal
stories rather than answers to the ongoing questions.
As I pondered Gutierrez and others questions in preparation for my introductory remarks, I spent time sampling many food trucks and spoke with chefs and
fellow patrons. What do you like about food trucks? How do you know where to
nd them? Interestingly, the common theme among the chefs and the patrons related to the social aspect of the experience. Walking up to a food truck is to come
face to face with the talented person about to make you a pork dumpling seasoned
with juniper, or a breakfast crepe lled with fresh berries and locally grown herbs,
or a warm biscuit lled with pulled pork, BBQ sauce, slaw, house made pickles
and crispy onion straws (thank you, Denver Biscuit Bus). Hearing the stories of
those behind the window adds to the avors and smells; to know the origin of our
meal is satisfying and genuine. Similarly, the chefs seem to gain satisfaction from
handing their artwork to the patron about to devour it. It seems a primal need to
care for and feed others is realized in this exchange.
The food truck as a locus for meaningful experience is echoed in perspectives
and ndings of the remaining articles in this issue. The particular experience I
might have with a food truck, or that we may have with a research article, helps
me conceptualize my social community and my roles in it. A food truck allows
a glimpse into a world cuisine or into anothers dreams, just like vividly written
research articles allow us a glimpse into others worlds to which we would otherwise have no access.
Houser, in A Portrait of Residential Treatment from a Youth Perspective
uses portraiture and poetic representation to portray the experiences of Jane, a
young woman at a residential treatment center. Beginning with a poem entitled
Spilled Milk Houser provides the reader with an inkling of what it was like for
Jane when she was physically punished for spilling milk. The essay continues
with themes of trauma and disappointment, which are both particular to Jane and
collectively understood as a part of the human experience. As with Gutierrez
research, no prescription is doled out, but rather Janes voice lingers in our minds
leaving an indelible mark as we pursue our own educational endeavors.
Dormans article, Building Teachers Social-Emotional Competence through
Mindfulness Practices delves into her use of mindfulness techniques during

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courses in teacher preparation. She explains the ways in which such practices
inuence the immediate classroom environment and the teachers future experiences, all couched in social-emotional competence. Her work indicates that mindfulness training can potentially alleviate stressors and teacher burnout.
Being mindful that you may now be ready to nd a snack to go with your
reading, you may want to turn to social media to nd your nearest food truck. In
Australia, a site called Where the Truck At will help you nd your favorite. In
the US, you may want to search roaminghunger.com or check out your trucks
Facebook page or twitter feed. You can also be the hero at your next party and invite a food truck to serve up fare from your driveway. Where do you nd delicious
research articles to feed your soul? No need to look furthersimply read on.

REFERENCES
Dewey, John (1938/1997). Experience in education. New York, NY. Simon and Schuster.
Good, T. L., Wood, M. B., Sabers, D., Abers, D., Olson, A. M., Lson, A. M., & KaliecCraig, C. (2013). Strengthening grade 3-5 students foundational knowledge of
rational numbers. Teachers College Record, 115(7), 145. Retrieved from: http://
ezproxy.baylor.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&
db=a9h&AN=88950287&site=ehost-live&scope=site

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