VilniusAvia Solutions Group" arena invites everyone to try something new this week and exchange their usual lunch at home or office for delicious street food "on wheels" - from food vans that are rapidly becoming popular in Lithuania,
From July 17-21, from Monday to Friday, food trucks located near the arena create a summer food alley, where visitors, between 11 a.m. and 19 p.m., can try soups, burgers, Mexican tacos, hot dogs, salad bowls, ice cream, coffee and other dishes.
The history of food vans began in the United States with hand-pushed food carts around the end of the XNUMXth century, but it wasn't until around the middle of the last century that such food outlets moved to motorized vehicles.
The first food trucks sold ice cream, but today you can find everything from burgers to zeppelins. It is estimated that only JAV there are about three million operating food vans, but this kind of street food culture came to Lithuania relatively recently and began to actively take the path to popularity only in the last five years.
"Food vans are an integral part of the summer festival, but we also see them more and more in the city. Therefore, we invite you to exchange your usual lunch for delicious street food. Diners will be able to enjoy these dishes at the tables set up right here, but we highly recommend sitting down in the nearby Ozo Park, where our arena staff often have lunch in the summer," said Guoda Šereikaitė, manager of arena marketing projects of Vilnius "Avia Solutions Group".
The growth of the popularity of food vans in Lithuania was also stimulated by the coronavirus pandemic that gripped the world a few years ago. During the quarantine period, when restaurants could only provide takeaway food, many catering establishments suffered huge losses precisely due to the maintenance of the premises, so the vans only seemed an even more attractive idea in the warm season.
At the same time, Violeta Strižen, the owner of the "Bite My Truck Tex-Mex" van participating in the summer food alley, had the idea, which became a way for her to realize her passion for food production.
"Our journey began in December 2021 when my children encouraged me to follow my passion. The decision to leave work and decide to start a business required a lot of courage and faith, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions in my life", says V. Strižen.
"I'm a chef, so creating authentic Tex-Mex dishes and sharing my love for food is very fun and rewarding for me. Our first customers have been very supportive, which has allowed us to grow. The beginning was not easy, but with the help of family and friends, everything is possible. We are proud of our van," adds the woman.
At that time, Paulius Velička, the representative of the IceKing ice cream bus he met in the food summer alley, jokes that he missed "real" and delicious ice cream in Lithuania, so he decided to start selling it himself.
"We have been developing the idea for several years. We thought, we dreamed, until finally we decided to take the risk. We built what we have now by ourselves and with the help of our family. This summer is our first, so it's hard to judge success, but we definitely have fans", says P. Velička.
