EggZ Foodcart

"It's amazing how many people have never had a truly fresh egg. Hens that live a healthy life with fresh air, good food, and clean water (not to mention open space and green pastures) lay eggs that are firmer, more deeply colored, hater-shelled, and, most important, more nutritious than those of their factory counterparts." – from the Backyard Homestead









I assume that like most every other regular daily cook out there, over the years I have thought of my very own food cart concept. In fact, as I look back over some of my oder blogs, there had been a time the pace of food cart ideas got a little out of control, as if I were going to actually follow through it, put idea to action, buy the truck, paint it cool, then hit the street. It didn't help much that Tyler Florence's Food Network show Food Truck competition was then in full swing and the process of perfecting your niche food, vying frantically for your little parking spot somewhere on the fringes of a park usually, or maybe a tailgate-style location, looked awfully fun. On second glance, ten years later, I see that there are some pods of success for food trucks. We visited Harvard University this past last summer and they had a very nice couple of offerings right at the edge of campus, and a good two or three hand fulls of people were lined up on a nice day grabbing bahia ma sandwiches.  At the very top end of State Street in Madison, near campus, there's a very active cart economy, perfectly placed, near the U Bookstore. For myself, I always wondered if I could have opened up a egg card, cleverly called, with a 'z'! Eggz...the idea being that everything made, as our niche, would include

eggs in some way. A few nights ago I made an asparagus frittata, for example, and remembered how wonderfully adaptive and inclusive eggs can be. I basically created my pan frittata by putting into stuff I had on hand like a bottom layer of sliced then baked potatoes, some red peppers, parmesan cheese into the egg mixture, sautéed mushrooms, and finally a good ten asparagus strands across the top for beauty and green. A slight warming on the stovetop began to set the mixture, and only really 15 minutes firmed the frittata in the oven. Cut it into quarters and you truly have something potentially similar to a slice of pizza in your hands. You could churn out a ton of frittatas quickly and with any ingredients folks wanted. Why not a chili mix over the top? How's about a chipped beef inside?  All veggies you ask? Perfect. All cheese? Yes.  Eggs have, for obvious reasons, a long and varied culinary past – they can be used as the most primitive source for a meal as fried and served, or turned to a mallet over arugula drizzled with a french sauce. Virtually every food style you can think of, eggs could contribute.  My own recent 'hot style," tagine cooking, could use in virtually ever recipe a cracked egg over the top for style and texture. Think of an omelet style disk turned taco cover and holding in .... breakfast ingredients?  Egg over a soup? Absolutely. Scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes? I don't see why not? We haven't even gotten started with all of the various things that can be done for Deviled eggs. You name the favorite ingredient, dice it up small, and plug it into that perfectly ovular receptacle and there is a protein bite that offers a lot of flavor.  Our Eggz Cart would, of course, get its eggs only from the most local sources. It could offer morning noon and night. Watch out for the passing egg truck coming to your neighborhood soon!