By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Bring your appetite to Berwick Food Truck Carnival.
You’ll need a deep stomach to sample the vast cuisine options over four days.
Take the towering Uruguayan steak sandwiches (chivitos) cooked up at El Chivis van.
Speaking from experience, the powerful El Presidente chivito will dictate that you’re sated for a whole day.
It’s a cramming of super-tender Scotch fillet, ham, bacon, egg and cheese that’s laced with peppers, olive, El Chivis sauce and fresh salad.
At Berwick, there will be a village of 22 food trucks offering a world of cuisine – such as Vietnamese, Japanese, the Caribbean and the Americas.
Organisers say they’re well prepared for the expected 40,000-plus foodie tsunami.
There’s live music, DJs, a licenced bar, carnival rides and Friday night fireworks to keep crowds entertained.
For El Chivis co-owner Marty Eppel, it’s another huge event after many other huge events on the busy summer calendar.
He and wife Anna got in the game as an affordable way to start a food enterprise – on top of raising a young child and servicing.
They built their food van from scratch on Mr Eppel’s grandfather’s property, even piecing together the chassis.
There was a lifestyle choice behind it, the dream of making a living as they drifted between music festivals like Rainbow Serpent and Strawberry Fields.
For six months each year, it is absolute hard work. The other six are your own.
In the peak time, there’s the stress of finding gigs with good weather and crowds, driving up to five hours each way and grinding 16-hour days just to prep their food.
The worst thing that can happen is you sell out of food, says Mr Eppel.
In the past, he’s sold a phenomenal 2400 chivitos at the Berwick carnival – and he didn’t even sell out.
Berwick Food Truck Carnival is at Buchanan Park, Clyde Road, Berwick on 1-4 March. Entry is free. Details: ‘Berwick Food Truck Carnival (FREE EVENT)’ Facebook page.
