2nd Annual Black Food Truck Festival Highlights Houston’s Black Owned Food Trucks & Businesses

The 3rd Annual Black Food Truck Festival & Vendor Fair hosted by Houston’s Blacklist Association is scheduled for Saturday, October 26, 2019. Check out my recap of last year’s festivities below and get your tickets here! 

#BLAFTF18 | THE RECAP

“Either they don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care about what’s going on in the hood.” – Doughboy

Over the weekend more than a thousand hungry Houstonians came out to support the 2nd Annual Black Food Truck Festival & Vendor Fair hosted by Houston’s Blacklist Association. The Festival successfully highlighted the city’s underrepresented community of black-owned food trucks. Attendees enjoyed a variety of options from vegan comfort food to sinfully stuffed baked potatoes. For seven straight hours the parking lot out front of The Shrine of the Black Madonna Cultural and Events Center was a buzz!

Due to last year’s Black Food Truck Festival ending early because of heavy downpours, I was truly vested in seeing this one be successful. The naysayers and negative Nacy’s of the world will try to convince you that black folks don’t support one another. The Blacklist Association proved that this was anything but true.

FOOD

The festival consisted of live musical and spoken word performances, tunes from DJ Ivy League, a wildly successful black vendor market and of course FOOD from 17+ trucks! I spent the bulk of my time hopping from truck to truck assessing their unique offerings.

Though I certainly couldn’t eat from each truck (for both health and monetary reasons) I did enjoy the brisket nachos and fried gizzards from Thibodeaux Cookers and the shrimp & broccoli stuffed potato from OMG Baked Potatoes. The crowd favorite was clearly Southern Taste with their deliciously unique fried egg rolls. They won the People’s Choice award for their boudain balls stuffed with mozzarella cheese!! . An honor that came with a prize of $250 dollars!

This event left me wondering though…”where are all of these amazing trucks typically parked”? Why don’t I ever see or hear about them until an event like this occurs”? As I continue to search for answers to those questions I am reminded of a famous quote from Boyz in the Hood’s lead character “Doughboy,” “Either they don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care about what’s going on in the hood.”

“BUY BLACK” VENDOR MARKET 

It’s no secret that Black consumers set trends and dictate popular culture, and that black consumers make up over 50% of overall spending in the US! Where we fall short is not spending that money within our own community. The Buy Black Marketplace was THE PLACE TO SHOP during the food truck festival.  In the words of my 17 year old cousin, the vendor space was “lit”.  Over 50 vendor booths lined  the walls of the events center. All you could see were melanated business men and women selling everything from cakes and pies to apparel.

When I say I spent all money.. I spent ALL my money. I left with custom, hand painted earrings from the New Black Panther Party , mini pies from Danie’s Delights and a whole loaf of Chocolate Banana bread from Splendid Life Cake Bar! Of course the bulk of my money went to food, but vendors like  Reflections by Zana and Manzi Closet  are a must when I get paid on the first of the month!

If your inserted in supporting black business check out the instastory screen shots below. All of the vendors that I engaged with are listed below.

“It is the duty of the younger Negro artist…to change through the force of his art that old whispering ‘I want to be white,’ hidden in the aspirations of his people, to ‘Why should I be white? I am a Negro—and beautiful!’” -Langston Hughes (The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, The Nation)