Most people have forgotten about the terrible storm that devastated Houston in 2017. Hurricane Harvey dropped an astonishing nine trillion gallons of water onto the city, destroying neighborhoods and lives. But something beautiful emerged from the calamity. It’s a cliché, but it’s true: people put their differences aside and truly pull together in a disaster. Volunteers from all over the country came to help. And during the worst days, the taco trucks came out to feed people.

It’s the same story everywhere. From Midwestern tornadoes to last year's fires in Los Angeles, the trucks always show up.

Taco trucks emerged in the 1970s in Los Angeles to bring food directly to customers without the need for brick-and-mortar spaces. They are mostly beloved now, but that’s not always been the case. Ironically, the characteristics that irritate their opponents are the very things that allow the trucks to improvise care on the fly: park first, negotiate later, feed a lot of people, and hang the bureaucracy. By design, they are nimble and mobile. In disasters they feed whomever is there, without ceremony—emergency responders, volunteers, devastated people who have lost everything. In that brief exchange of food, looking someone in the eye and being seen in return, the essential humanity of both sides is restored. On any regular day, a delicious, simple, inexpensive meal on a paper plate is a gift. In the midst of catastrophe, it's grace. One of those moments reminding us that we are all in this together.

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Links:

• “LA Is a Taco City: The Street Vendors That Mobilized Quickly to Feed First Responders,” by Bill Esparza, Eater, January 15, 2025

  
  

• “A Taco Truck in Texas Fed 800 Families for Free During Winter Storm,” by Mark Chalifoux, The Dad, March 3, 2021

  
  

• “How a Sioux Falls couple used their food truck to feed an Iowa town hit by flooding,” by Vanessa Carlson Bender, AOL, June 26. 2024

  
  

• “For the So-Cal Taco Truck, Feeding Tornado Victims Was a Lot Harder Than Expected,” by Lauren Drewes Daniels, Dallas Observer, April 5, 2012

  
  

• “The Origin Story Behind America's First Taco Truck,” by Gene Gerrard, Tasting Table, July 6, 2024

• From my personal archive: “The Devil’s Own Day in Houston: Letter from the Publisher,” by Rainey Knudson, Glasstire, August 29, 2017

  
  

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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