Local Foodies Gather for ‘Food Truck Mash-Up’ Charity Event

A food truck mash-up in Cathedral City gathered foodies from all over the desert for a twist on their favorite dishes, all while the national event helps local charities. The toughest part of the food truck event was making space for all of the food. Angela Yanez-Gaitan is a local who was not able to decide on one dish alone. She said, "I got a split order of the ‘elote fries’ and the ‘carne asada fries’, I couldn’t decide so I just said let’s get a split order." About a dozen food trucks and their seasoned chefs shared their culinary masterpieces as part of USA Today’s traveling Food Truck Mash-up event. The director, T.H. Irwin travels to states to bring similar events all over the country. Irwin said, "The best gratification I get from this type of event is seeing people laughing together and happy with their friends and family hanging out here for the day, totally unplugged and spending time together." Some of these food trucks caravan across the country with the event, Michael Hill brings his family’s barbeque recipe all over the states. Hill said, "It’s a family and traditional recipe with my mother’s seasoning from Louisiana, so we use a little of Louisiana style seasoning and nice slow cocked and baked and everything is made from scratch." A portion of the proceeds will go to fund scholarships for the Cathedral City High School students, as well as the Ronald McDonald House Charities and the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert. The Director of Community Engagement for The Center, Alexis Ortega, said these events help to spread the word about the organization’s services all while people enjoy time among the community. Ortega said, "They do provide us a donation, which is amazing and simultaneously we also get the benefit of connecting with residents and connecting with fellow community members, so it’s just like a win, win." However, the true winner of the event was the visitor’s bellies, some of the options included Italian Ice, Tacos and even Gator, learn more about the Food Truck Mash-up, here.