Food Trucks
When festivals were cancelled to reduce spread of Covid-19, I was pretty disappointed. We’d be missing out on noodles, wine, and beer. And live performances. And some all-around liveliness that there’s just not enough of around here. I like to eat kebabs, pastels, good burgers. These dishes show up at festivals - both in the city for Tanabata or Shingen Komatsuri, and in the mountains for The Camp Book or Yatsugatake High Life - but seem otherwise hard to find.
While these dishes are indulgences for me, they’re the livelihood of others. Without a festival crowd, there’s no all-day, long lines waiting for takoyaki or cheese dogs. Many of these businesses only operate out of food trucks - they don’t have a permanent location. It’s another business hit hard by the pandemic.
I started noticing ROCKiN' PiZZA some time ago. I really dig quattro formaggi pizza. A friend alerted me to the troubles that these food trucks were having, so I invited ROCKiN' PiZZA to set up in the parking lot. The good news is that a lot of other places have offered space, and Ryoko of ROCKiN' PiZZA is keeping busy. The bad news is that without festival customers, numbers just aren’t going to be as high as in past years. But you can help out - come over the Kotobuki House on June 14th, 4 PM - 7 PM, and dig in.
Additionally, Food Bank Yamanashi is running a food drive until July 10th. Kotobuki House will be a drop-off for donated food. They’re looking for rice, instant noodles, pasta, pancake mix, and canned goods as well as snacks - a lot of this food will be going to children. They can’t accept food that will expire soon - it can’t expire before October of this year.
Please stop by on Sunday!