Since 2011, Boston's Food Truck program has given the city's residents one more reason to look forward to warm weather. Over the years, the program has grown to 95 trucks, serving cuisines from around the world to customers all across the city. On Saturday, May 6, Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway will host its annual food truck festival, featuring 12 food trucks serving everything from Mediterranean dishes to bubble tea. GBH's All Things Considered host Arun Rath spoke about the event with Olivia Horte, a program manager at the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Arun Rath: So, before we jump into the festival, tell us a bit more about the background of the Boston food truck scene. It seems like it exploded very fast over the last several years.
Olivia Horte: Yeah, we actually hosted the first food truck in all of Boston, like you said, about 11 years ago now on Dewey Square. The program has really just exploded from there. Pre-pandemic, we had around eight food trucks on Dewey Square every day and we also have several other locations throughout downtown from Rowes Wharf Plaza to the Greenway carousel that support these small businesses.
Rath: So, tell us about the festival, how it got started, and what people can expect to see.
Horte: We've been hosting Greenway Food Truck Festivals on and off for the last five or six years. We find that it's a really great way to kick off the summer, a great way to support small businesses, get great local eats, shop from local artists, grab a drink at Trillium Brewing, which will also be open, and the Greenway carousel will be spinning as well. It's just a great way to celebrate warmer times ahead, gathering again, and all those wonderful things downtown.
Rath: And tell us about some of the cuisines that will be featured. I see some classics like Cookie Monstah will be there. What about some of the newcomers?
Horte: We have a few different newcomers to the program this year. One of them is the Paisani Food Truck. They've become very well known for their drunken parm sandwich, which is a chicken parm sandwich with vodka sauce on it. They're one of the more popular trucks.
We also have two new Tex-Mex trucks, Tacos Calleteco and Vaz+Mac.
Another one of our new trucks is Wanderlust, which specializes in global street food and they have a rotating menu that's based on what's in season and what they can get locally. Some of their specialties that are my favorite include the Danish hot dog, which is delicious. I had it for lunch the other day. It comes with pickles, some remoulade, mustard sauce, all the different toppings that you could ever want on a hot dog. Yeah, it's delicious.
Rath: The festival is coinciding with the opening of the Greenway Artisan Market. Tell us a bit more about that.
Horte: The Greenway Artisan market is operated by Somerville Flea, and they'll be starting on that same Saturday, May 6, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This artisan market celebrates all local artists and craftsmen. The Greenway Artisan Market happens every Saturday from May 6 through the end of October, and then Sundays it will be starting up on Memorial Day and going every Sunday through Oct. 9.
Rath: That's awesome. And thinking about about the Greenway, I mean, my goodness, that has been transformed over the past several years from being a highway to a space — that as you describe — where people can gather and engage with each other and local businesses. For people who are coming into this fresh, remind us a little bit about how we got here from there.
Horte: As many people know, the Greenway used to be a highway, and then during the Big Dig we put the 93 highway underground and then we were able to build this green roof on top of it. It stretches over 1.5 miles throughout downtown, and we really strive to connect the neighborhoods along the Greenway. We do this through our programing, through our rotating public art program. We also strive to educate people about the importance of sustainable practices. We also look forward to our fountains reopening in early May, which, a lot of our staff find that the fountains are some of the happiest places on the Greenway because children and people from all different walks of life really just enjoy the water. Those are actually also serviced totally in house by our maintenance team. So, we're excited for those to come back as well.
Rath: Brilliant. Great stuff to look forward to. Olivia, it's been great speaking with you. Thank you.
Horte: Thank you.
The Greenway Food Truck Festival and Greenway Artisin Market begin this Saturday, May 6.
