A Twist To Drive Thru Service

Where the vendors are the ones who drive their trucks up to where people are and foodies get to sample different fares, while merchants get to keep their costs low. Or at least lower.

I first came across Off The Grid on Andrew Zimmern's show Bizarre Foods. He was in San Francisco (known for its counter-culture, er, culture) and I suppose that characteristic of the city makes it an ideal place for Off The Grid to take off.

I don't see why it can't work here. We do have lots of spaces that remain underutilized, or local city governments could designate areas to be blocked off to entice local food producers and chefs to come together to showcase their produce, wares and food discoveries. (All pictures from and more information can be found at http://offthegridsf.com/)

Currently, the "markets" I see are, yes, cross cultural - I came across Persian, French, regional Filipino, Thai and Mexican cuisines all under one roof - but the prices of the foods ensured that only members of certain economic classes could partake of them. (I don't know about you, but getting a slice of Moussaka for almost 300 Philippine Pesos is not something I would say is "consumer friendly", in the context of a public market setting.)

I wonder if any of our local city governments would consider the Off The Grid model.