The food truck revolution is on its way

The food truck revolution is on its way

by Ellen Braunstein – chabad.org

You might not think of Salt Lake City as a place for an award-winning kosher falafel, but thanks to Chabad’s bright green Yalla food truck, Utahns can now easily dig into fresh, hot, and certified kosher mediterranean.

The kosher food truck has emerged as a replacement for traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants that the small Jewish community of 6,000 could not sustain. It follows in the ways of similar food trucks that have popped up across the country and beyond.

Rabbi Avremi Zippel, director of development at Chabad-Lubavitch of Utah, partnered with supplier Elad Ogorek and helped him secure glatt kosher certification for an Israeli-style food truck.

“In an act of Divine providence, Elad was looking to move the food truck to the Salt Lake City area,” Zipel told Chabad.org.

After teaming up with Ogorek, securing a truck that could be repurposed into a mini, portable kitchen, and then establishing the restaurant, Zippel now manages the Yalla food truck operation, which has since expanded its offerings to cater Shabbat meals and events. other private.

But while as a rabbi Zippel was no stranger to logistics and was well positioned to organize kosher certification, that in itself did not guarantee that the food would be high quality and delicious. Ogorek was the driving force behind this by curating an award-winning menu that includes Middle Eastern staples like schnitzel, grilled chicken, beef kebabs, falafel and shawarma. “I may run day-to-day operations, but Elad is the creative soul,” Zippel asserted.

Yalla has been thriving for two and a half years. Four employees staff the 18-foot-long food truck, which on an average day can be found in the Chabad center parking lot, along with a few benches. The food is prepared in the commercial kosher kitchen adjacent to Chabad and then cooked in the truck.

“It has been extremely well received in the local community by Jews and non-Jews,” Zippel said. “Chabad wanted to commit to providing kosher food as an option for locals, visitors and tourists coming to national parks and ski resorts.”

And the locals aren’t the only ones impressed by the offerings. The year it opened, in 2022, it won numerous awards, including being named one of Salt Lake City’s top five can’t-miss food trucks by local ABC affiliate. In 2024 it won, among other awards, the Best of Salt Lake City in the Middle Eastern Restaurant category.

Kosher in high demand

Nearly 50 years ago, in the summer of 1975, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of correct memory, launched the International Kosher Campaign, the last of what would become the Ten Mitzvah Campaigns.

“It is explained in the Jewish holy books … that a person’s makeup is greatly affected by what he eats and drinks,” the Rebbe explained at the time. “Food becomes part of his blood and flesh and, just as it affects physical health, it also affects spiritual health.”

As part of this campaign, the Rebbe established a special fund that would offset the costs incurred by an individual living in his home and supported the many efforts directed by Chabad emissaries to make the kosher world more accessible, from kosher cookbooks to kosher meal plans. on university campuses.

The food truck is the latest vehicle of the Kosher Campaign. It’s especially well-suited to college campuses, where young people are more used to the idea of ​​buying hot food from a truck than perhaps some of their elders.

Duke University is another example of a Chabad center meeting the growing need for a kosher food option. Duke has seen its Jewish student population grow in recent years, and in 2021 inaugurated the 24,000-square-foot Fleishman House as the home of Rohr Chabad to Duke Undergrads. Jewish life on campus has exploded ever since.

To meet the needs of the growing Jewish community for proper nutrition, Chabad created its Yalla kosher food truck.

“We’re the first truck they’ve allowed on campus full-time,” said Rabbi Nossen Fellig, co-director of Chabad at Duke. “A lot more students, fortunately, are eating kosher because of it, and those who are not yet fully kosher are eating a lot more kosher meals.”

On campus for two years, it was only a matter of time before Yalla entered the public consciousness when he made headlines a few weeks ago when Jewish comedian and actor Jerry Seinfeld delivered the May 12 commencement address at Duke, where his son Julian is a rising senior, he called out to the campus food truck.

“And I know you’re not even really listening to this speech,” Seinfeld told the assembled graduates. “It’s ok. I wouldn’t either. You’re graduating, thinking about yourself, or timing your cell phone order from the Yalla truck, and it’s all nice….

The speech quickly went viral on social media, with the moment seen as a simple but powerful message of support for the Jewish community: There’s no reason to hide your identity, not when it comes to big things like Jewish holidays or Similar. and not on the daily to eat a good kosher lunch.

A great model

Salt Lake City and Durham aren’t the only outlying Jewish communities with their own righteous food trucks. In 2016, Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein, who heads the Rohr Chabad House at Vanderbilt, in Nashville, Tenn., teamed up with the late New York attorney Ken Freeling to create what is now known as “Holy Smoke,” a truck grocery offering southern foods. and traditional Jewish classics. Serving from a trailer trailer dating back to 1971, the truck has since made kosher food more accessible and desirable on and off campus and has become a favorite gathering point for Jewish students to enjoy a good meal and explore their Jewish heritage.

At Cal Poly, students expect the distinct smell of kosher cooking that heralds the arrival of the aptly named “What’s Cookin Kosher” food truck. After talks with campus administration to build a dedicated kosher kitchen failed, Rabbi Chaim Leib Hillel, who heads Chabad of SLO & Cal Poly, in faraway San Luis Obispo, California, installed the truck as a unique way to provide students that he serves. have access to kosher food.

Meanwhile, in Jacksonville, Fla., a brick-and-mortar kosher franchise called Gili’s Kitchen has teamed up with various Chabad centers to bring kosher food to the American South, most recently with Chabad at the University of Central Florida. In the past, she has even come out to Jewish communities in North Orlando, Greater Daytona and as far away as Savannah, Ga.

Zippel calls the kosher food truck a great model for other Jewish communities of similar size. “The commitment to provide good kosher food is not something that is only possible in a larger community of tens or hundreds of thousands of Jews,” the rabbi said.

Zippel has been contacted by Chabad emissaries (settlement) around the world who are eager to bring comparable food trucks to their communities. “It has been a tremendous asset in bringing visibility and awareness of kosher food to the local community,” he explained. “I think the demand for kosher food increases once it becomes available.”

The Yalla truck has attended food truck rallies and festivals in and around Salt Lake — never on Shabbat, of course.

According to Zippel, having a local kosher option opens people’s eyes to what it means to commit to a righteous lifestyle. “It has given a sense of pride in being kosher observant,” he said. “It’s not a crazy lifestyle. It is something that brings blessing and holiness to a Jewish home.”

Could the food truck operation potentially expand and open a sit-down restaurant in the future? “I certainly didn’t think when we opened that we would get the recognition and attention that we’re getting locally,” Zippel said. “I truly believe that with God’s help, I hope those blessings will continue to drive the commitment forward to kosher.”