Food Truck Wars coming to KPU’s Langley campus

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The Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival is hosting its second annual Food Truck Wars event on Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Langley campus from Friday, March 31 to Sunday, April 2. 

Forty-five food trucks will compete in multiple categories to sell the tastiest food, and attendees will get to vote for “People’s Choice” on the event’s website. 

The Langley campus was chosen to host this event because of the large parking space and the organizer’s experience working with the City of Langley in the past. Jason Faria, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival, and his partner, Kathleen King, are also KPU alumni. 

“It’s a high exposure location that is close to my front door. The closer that I can get to having an event in my backyard, it gives you a feeling of … that you’ve made something super awesome happen,” Faria says. 

The KPU Alumni Association and BC Children’s Hospital Foundation are both charity partners for the event. Partial proceeds will go towards the KPU Alumni Association endowment fund and the BC Children’s Hospital. 

In addition to the food trucks, there will also be 20 market vendors for people to shop at, live entertainment like musicians and a magician, and a “beer garden” of local breweries, including KPU’s beer. 

“I just hope [people] have a good time, that it’s a memorable experience,” Faria says. “Just at the end of the day, knowing how much work goes into this and that it is a product of passion.” 

The first Food Truck Wars event was held last year at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, and Faria  says it was created to bring a large event back after the pandemic. 

The Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival hosts events revolving around food trucks, such as the Burnaby Block Party @BCIT, the Surrey Community Block Party, and the Food Truck Wars. 

Corvette Romero, co-owner of Filipino cuisine food truck Shameless Buns, is one of the businesses participating in the event. She hopes people take away how food trucks can be a fun way to dine. 

“There’s so many different food trucks in the Lower Mainland and so many of them doing fun, funky, and unique things,” Romero says, adding that food trucks have a personal aspect with most businesses being Mom and Pop shops as well. 

Shameless Buns opened almost four years ago in May 2019, but before that, their first dish was actually made by accident. 

Her husband and co-owner of the food truck, Matt Brennan, was home one night and wanted something to eat. He put together a sandwich with ingredients around the house like sausage, fried egg, pickled papaya, and banana ketchup on a pandesal bun, now called “The Little Sausage.” 

“We took flavours of the Philippines and turned it upside down so that people can try it and be introduced to these funky, vibrant flavours in a comfortable way,” she adds. “For me, it is really cool to be able to share that pride for Filipino food and culture with everybody.”  

Last year, Shameless Buns won the “Best Plant-Based” category at the Food Truck Wars for their Jacked Up Coconut Fries. 

Romero says she is excited to attend the Food Truck Wars again this year, see the competition, and what category Shameless Buns is this year. 

“Food brings people together. It’s just a good way of mingling with each other and to get to know each other … and explore different cultures and cuisines through food trucks.”

Tickets are by donation and can be purchased through https://greatervanfoodtruckfest.com/events/foodtruckwars/.