Food Truck Project: Reel Delicious
The food truck project was a semester long project, that required a lot of hard work and creativity. Our final goal was to buy, and operate a successful High Tech High food truck. This project combined Humanities, Spanish, and Chemistry, into a artfully crafted business. In humanities, we learned about writing ethnography's that properly portray the food trucks we visited (See Phase 1), and also worked on writing summaries to make people want to donate (See phase 2) . In Spanish, we focused on learning about the very first food trucks, Locheras. These are Latin American taco trucks that started the idea of traveling food. We put our language skills to the test when we worked with native spanish speakers who owned these loncheras. (See phase 1) Lastly, in Chemistry we learned about taste and the chemicals in our foods. In order to do this, we all participated in an EdX online course run by Harvard called "Science and Cooking : From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science."
This project seemed to work in three different phases. In each phase our partnerships/groups were changed, and we focused on a different stage of getting our truck. Read below to understand exactly what each phase entailed.
This project seemed to work in three different phases. In each phase our partnerships/groups were changed, and we focused on a different stage of getting our truck. Read below to understand exactly what each phase entailed.
phase 1 - research
In phase 1 we worked on getting background information on the San Diego food truck scene, and worked a lot on our writing and video editing skills.
Step One : First, we were placed in groups of three. In my group was Brian Cesson, and Luis Tapia. Each group was assigned a food truck or lonchera to go and observe for the day. During these observation days, we were required to conduct interviews and make a video our of our experience. My groups skills were put to the test, because we were sent to the Librado Limon Lonchera. This lonchera was completely spanish speaking, making interviews difficult. Luckily, Luis was fluent and was able to conduct the talking parts of the interviews. After we came back, we each wrote a post field reflection.
Step One : First, we were placed in groups of three. In my group was Brian Cesson, and Luis Tapia. Each group was assigned a food truck or lonchera to go and observe for the day. During these observation days, we were required to conduct interviews and make a video our of our experience. My groups skills were put to the test, because we were sent to the Librado Limon Lonchera. This lonchera was completely spanish speaking, making interviews difficult. Luckily, Luis was fluent and was able to conduct the talking parts of the interviews. After we came back, we each wrote a post field reflection.
Step Two : After we conduced the interviews, we had a lot of work to do. We started the 'Latin American Street Food Challenge' where each group chose a country in latin america and learned about their street food scene. This was important because a lot of loncheras, use those cultures in their food, and we wanted to have as much knowledge on the topic as possible. To see which country each group had and the outline of this piece of the project, click HERE. At the end of the challenge, we also had to make the dish for the rest of the class. My group chose El Salvador, because I had experience with the street food when I visited. El Salvador is very well known for their Pupusas, so we chose that dish. See below for all of our work on this challenge.
Step Three : After the street food challenge, we went back to the interviews we conducted, and worked off of that. For our docuwebsite, each group was required to supply them with certain pieces of work. Each group need to have:
- 1 group ethnographic write up
- Individual 'aha' moment ethnographic write up
- 5 photos with descriptions
- 1 edited video, that uses the footage you gathered at your food truck or lonchera
We used our knowledge on ethnographic writing to complete this step of the project. The indiviual 'aha' moments, are 500 word minimum writing pieces each person in the group had to write. Each person had to comment on a different aspect of the experience, (location, customers, business etc.) All of the writing was difficult, because we were required to have it edited over and over until the editor approves it. Then, it had to be edited by the teacher. It was a long process, but the writing turned out very good.
Below, you can see our final video, our five photos, and a button to all of our writing.
~ The button for the Whole Group Ethnographic Writing below, contains our group ethnographic write up, our individual writings, and our photo descriptions ~
~ The button for the Docuwebsite will lead you to the website made to display every students ethnographic work on their specific food truck. The making of the website is described farther down ~
- 1 group ethnographic write up
- Individual 'aha' moment ethnographic write up
- 5 photos with descriptions
- 1 edited video, that uses the footage you gathered at your food truck or lonchera
We used our knowledge on ethnographic writing to complete this step of the project. The indiviual 'aha' moments, are 500 word minimum writing pieces each person in the group had to write. Each person had to comment on a different aspect of the experience, (location, customers, business etc.) All of the writing was difficult, because we were required to have it edited over and over until the editor approves it. Then, it had to be edited by the teacher. It was a long process, but the writing turned out very good.
Below, you can see our final video, our five photos, and a button to all of our writing.
~ The button for the Whole Group Ethnographic Writing below, contains our group ethnographic write up, our individual writings, and our photo descriptions ~
~ The button for the Docuwebsite will lead you to the website made to display every students ethnographic work on their specific food truck. The making of the website is described farther down ~
Phase 2 - food truck concepts
In phase two, we focused on creating food truck ideas and concepts. Below is our final poster made by myself, and a video made by Dayyan can be seen HERE.
On The Road: In the second phase, we were put into partnerships. I was paired with Dayyan Sisson. Together, we had to start creating our ideas for our own food trucks. We decided that we wanted to create a truck that provided a large variety of foods, featuring dishes from around the world that rotated. We incorporated a diverse menu consisting of worldly cuisines, including two ever changing dishes to provide an exotic touch or seasonal flare. Together, we developed On The Road, one of the leading food truck concepts on our team.
On The Road: In the second phase, we were put into partnerships. I was paired with Dayyan Sisson. Together, we had to start creating our ideas for our own food trucks. We decided that we wanted to create a truck that provided a large variety of foods, featuring dishes from around the world that rotated. We incorporated a diverse menu consisting of worldly cuisines, including two ever changing dishes to provide an exotic touch or seasonal flare. Together, we developed On The Road, one of the leading food truck concepts on our team.
phase 3 - kickstarter campaign
Once we decided as a class on one final food truck concept to role with, we needed to find a way to raise the money! Based on extensive research of different crowd funding websites, we decided that we wanted to use the all-or-nothing site called Kickstarter. Our goal was $35,000 which would cover the cost of a reasonable truck, pledge perks, and any supplies we would need for the truck.
There was a lot of work that needed to go into starting our Kickstarter campaign, making it easiest to separate into groups depending on what we're skilled at. We formed certain committees focused on different aspects of our campaign. Some examples are PR, Logo & Design, Cooking, Finances, Legal, Film, and lastly Docuwebsite. Each member of our team was divided into a committee that they were interested in and could contribute to. Maya Ervin and I were the only two in the docuwebsite team, making it one of the hardest projects I've had to do. Using HTML code we started a website from scratch that showed the ethnography's and information gathered from the food trucks we visited in San Diego. You can visit our complete website and our final Kickstarter campaign from the buttons below.
Our final food truck concept was Reel Delicious. We combined ideas from many of the food truck concepts designed by our students, and decided on a truck with Latin American and Asian cuisine. Reel Delicious promotes cultural understanding through food and film, and sources locally to benefit local businesses. In adittion, we show a large range of films, made by students and professionals to help create a media literacy curriculum for students.
There was a lot of work that needed to go into starting our Kickstarter campaign, making it easiest to separate into groups depending on what we're skilled at. We formed certain committees focused on different aspects of our campaign. Some examples are PR, Logo & Design, Cooking, Finances, Legal, Film, and lastly Docuwebsite. Each member of our team was divided into a committee that they were interested in and could contribute to. Maya Ervin and I were the only two in the docuwebsite team, making it one of the hardest projects I've had to do. Using HTML code we started a website from scratch that showed the ethnography's and information gathered from the food trucks we visited in San Diego. You can visit our complete website and our final Kickstarter campaign from the buttons below.
Our final food truck concept was Reel Delicious. We combined ideas from many of the food truck concepts designed by our students, and decided on a truck with Latin American and Asian cuisine. Reel Delicious promotes cultural understanding through food and film, and sources locally to benefit local businesses. In adittion, we show a large range of films, made by students and professionals to help create a media literacy curriculum for students.
phase 4 - after the campaign
After 45 days, we had raised all of our funds! $35,000 was donated from parents, family members, organizations, and students. Since the creation of our business title and mission had already been created, we had no use for our previous committees. However, there was an entire range of new work that needed to be done. New committees were formed, including finance, legal, cooking, truck group, audio/visual, pledge perks, PR, and film.
My role was in the pledge perks group. One of the most important parts of a Kickstarter campaign are the 'kick backs.' These are gifts that the creator of the campaign gives to people depending on the amount of money they donated. Our pledge perks group was in charge of managing the donors, ordering the gifts, and distributing them. Some of the gifts included shirts, cook books, coupons, shoutouts, parties, and many more that are available for viewing on the Kickstarter campaign.
I think that I had a large contribution to this project, and contributed as much as I could. Though we couldn't get the truck completely started by the time the school year ended, I'm glad the next year of sophomores are able to take on the project and continue all of our hard work.
In the end, we celebrated our year of success through a Reel Delicious Pre-Launch Party. This served as an exhibition to our Spanish Cultural Performance project, and commemorated our hard work throughout the entire year. Not only did the students and parents have fun, but we were able to show off our final recipes, and have a great time with everyone who was generous enough to donate to our project.
My role was in the pledge perks group. One of the most important parts of a Kickstarter campaign are the 'kick backs.' These are gifts that the creator of the campaign gives to people depending on the amount of money they donated. Our pledge perks group was in charge of managing the donors, ordering the gifts, and distributing them. Some of the gifts included shirts, cook books, coupons, shoutouts, parties, and many more that are available for viewing on the Kickstarter campaign.
I think that I had a large contribution to this project, and contributed as much as I could. Though we couldn't get the truck completely started by the time the school year ended, I'm glad the next year of sophomores are able to take on the project and continue all of our hard work.
In the end, we celebrated our year of success through a Reel Delicious Pre-Launch Party. This served as an exhibition to our Spanish Cultural Performance project, and commemorated our hard work throughout the entire year. Not only did the students and parents have fun, but we were able to show off our final recipes, and have a great time with everyone who was generous enough to donate to our project.