Food Truck Wars returns to KPU’s Langley campus with local eats and activities

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The Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival is bringing back its annual Food Truck Wars to Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Langley campus from April 19 to 21.

There will be 47 food trucks at the event, which festival CEO and KPU alumnus Jason Faria says is the largest food truck festival in Canada.

“We don’t bring them if we don’t think the food is great,” Faria says. “There’s seven people returning this year that were award winners last year. … There’s a lot of great options. Some of them do sell out a little bit earlier, so we just advise people to come early.”

Last year marked the first time Food Truck Wars was at the Langley campus, after originally starting in 2022 at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Surrey.

Vendors will compete for eight awards, such as “Best International/Fusion,” “Best Plant-Based,” and “People’s Choice.”

Seven judges will decide the winners by rating them from one to 10, including Faria, Langley MLA Andrew Mercier, influencer Mr. Feast, the Lower Mainland Eats online community food group, and a follower guest determined by a contest on the festival’s social media. 

Vendor REEL Mac and Cheese, which Faria says is one of the “OG food trucks of the world,” won “Best Classic” at the 2023 Food Truck Wars and is returning again this year.

Suzanne Poudrier of the family-owned gourmet mac-and-cheese food truck says the business has developed its recipe from scratch and perfected it over the years. The dishes served at the food truck are movie themed, such as “The Green Mile,” which has freshly cooked broccoli and crispy onions, and “Kevin Bacon” with bacon and a panko topping.

Although it is to be decided if the food truck will bring in other options for Food Truck Wars, REEL Mac and Cheese will have its “tried and true eight dishes” cooked fresh and available at the event.

“We use seven different cheeses [from] a fancy cheesery on the island, and it’s all made with Canadian milk, which means there’s no antibiotics and no growth hormones in our milk that goes into our cheese,” Poudrier says. “[That] is what we really are going for, it’s just really good quality products. I think you can tell the difference when you taste it. [It] doesn’t have a gooey taste.”

Besides Food Truck Wars, REEL Mac and Cheese is also a familiar sight at the Calgary Stampede and Vancouver’s Pacific National Exhibition (PNE). 

The event will also feature live entertainment on a bigger stage than last year’s, with music performances from local bands like Dueling Pianos Vancouver and Venus & Mars. On Saturday from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, the Mexican music ensemble Mariachi Los Dorados will be providing roaming entertainment, which Faria says was well received last year.

The festival also expanded the site, so there will be more space at the kids’ zone with bouncy castles and face painters. Local community groups like the Langley Rams junior football team and Discover Downtown Langley will also run fun activities. New this year is a featured doughnut wall for attendees to take photos with, Faria says.

Attendees will also be able to buy event-wide beer, wine, and coolers. A free shuttle service will run at Langley Secondary School, Timms Community Centre, and McLeod Athletic Park to bring attendees to the festival during event hours.

There will also be an artisan market with 20 local small businesses selling products like home goods, soap, and handmade jewellery.

Faria says this event is a way of giving back and being ingrained in the community.

“We want everyone to know that we lose money doing this event. We do it because we think it’s a net benefit to the community. It’s something that is a passion project for us, especially somewhere like Langley City where there are no events,” he says.

“We are living in a time where developments are increasing. Event spaces are going away for said areas. We’re losing the ability to be together unless it’s inside four walls with a beer in our hand, and events like this bring people together. They bring communities together.”

Tickets for the event are sold online and by donation, with some proceeds going towards the KPU alumni endowment fund.

Visit foodtruckwars.co for more information and to get tickets.