Barcelona’s food trucks

Food trucks are everywhere in Barcelona. The new trend is here to stay, and there’s no open-air event where they are not present. ShBarcelona reviews the whole phenomena and gives you insight into some of them.

The trend

The whole “food truck” trend started in Barcelona in 2014 and this year the whole concept has grown. They are regulars in markets like Palo Alto and this summer they’ve been in the beautiful space of the University of Barcelona gardens. Although there’s not a specific law to cover them yet, they are considered by the administration as a complementary activity only allowed in specific cases, like fairs and events.

It’s something that will have to be regulated soon, as they are getting so big that local bars and restoration businesses are complaining.

In Barcelona, there have always been vans that serve food for special fairs in certain places, but they were basically offering churros and chips or fast food with no special care in quality (burgers, hot dogs or bocadillos). They were the typical option for concerts or festes majors (holidays in towns or neighbourhoods). What’s new with the food trucks then? To start with, most of them use vintage vans, customizing them and paying attention to the presentation. Furthermore, they specialize in a certain kind of food or product and consider quality (sometimes using organic or ecological products). And you can book them for events!

Related article: Palo Alto Market

Most popular vans

Foodtruckya is one of the websites for the food trucks in Spain where you can check lots of food trucks and their locations, their stories, what they offer and where to find them.

According to votes from users, la Creperie de Mariöne is the most popular. Owned by Mariona Barceló, it specializes in sweet and savory crepes, using Km0
products in her pink Volkswagen Vintage van.

Caravan Made (a classic in the UB gardens) presents original gourmet sandwiches and bocadillos with natural and organic products (rosemary bread, roast beef, vegan burger…).

The Rooftop Smokehouse specializes in smoked products: smoked octopus, Smoked Pine Mussel Pate, Smoked Mackerel, pastrami or Smoked Breast Duck Ham.

If you are more into coffee try Skye Coffee, (with a stable location from Monday to Friday, from 9 to 1, in a loft in Pamplona street 88) a 70’s Citroën ultracool van with barista coffee, freshly toasted and fresh milk.

If you prefer Thai food, El Petit Bangkok and its purple van is for you, and go for Mr Frank and the Butis to have good botifarres (a typical Catalan sausage)

If you want to know other food trucks you can visit Foodtruckya or Sigaelfoodtruck for future events. Almost all the food trucks have also twitter accounts or facebook pages.