The Food Cart Scene of Columbus, Ohio

In New York, food you could get from trucks wasn't limited to just ice cream cones.

Oh, no. You could get waffles and schnitzel and burritos. Tempeh and grilled cheese and kimchi. The possibilities were endless.

And yet, despite my best intentions, I rarely ever ate from a food truck. From the occasional hot dog stand, yes, but not from an honest-to-goodness food truck.

It took moving to Columbus to do that.

Earlier this month, Paul, Edith and I went to the Columbus Food Truck Festival held at Columbus Commons (the site of the city's former mall, but that's a whole other post someday). New York held food truck fests, too, but they were generally known for their long lines and we never went.

Columbus' festival had long lines too, but at least there was a live band to shorten the wait -- and drown out Edith's cries when the waiting got to be too long.

And wait, wait, wait we did. But the result -- for me, at least -- was worth it. I got in line at Sweet Carrot Casual Cuisine and chose the house-smoked pulled pork topped with coleslaw, all laid on a thin corncake. It was sweet and smokey and so, so delicious. Paul and I also split an order of fried artichokes. He liked them better than I did, but they were still OK.

Pulled pork

Fried artichokes

Paul got in another, longer line and ended up with some type of tender goat meat over rice. Good, but not worth the wait, he said.

Edith got a banana. Sorry, Edith.

Besides about 50 food trucks and live bands, the two-day festival also featured a few merchants, which I would have liked to have browsed. However, the lines for the food were so long that they were closing down shop by the time we finished eating.

When we left Columbus in 2007, food trucks were few and far between. I'm impressed with the variety and quality of options now available in the city. I only wish I could have tried more!