Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2015 Rhetoric and Food: The Rise of the Food Truck Movement Bryan W. Moe Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Moe, Bryan W., "Rhetoric and Food: The Rise of the Food Truck Movement" (2015). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1730. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1730 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. RHETORIC AND FOOD: THE RISE OF THE FOOD TRUCK MOVEMENT A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agriculture and Mechanical ColleGe in part fulfillment of the requirements for the deGree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Communication Studies by Bryan W. Moe B.A., University of Hawai’i at Manoa, 2007 M.A., California State University Fullerton, 2009 December 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This document could never have been completed without the continual support of my advisor, Dr. Nathan Crick. My committee members have also been invaluable, so special thanks as well to Dr. Andy “JaZZ” KinG and Dr. Cecil Eubanks. A huge and wonderful thank you goes to my mother for readinG many terrible drafts of this project and many papers throuGhout my colleGe experience and always stayinG positive. Lastly, thank you to my brothers Steven & Kevin, Grandpa & Grandma, Gabe A., Jeannine M., Jason M., Dmoefunk, Dr. K. Aune, Dr. M. Kim, Dr. E. MechlinG, Dr. J. Ibson, and everyone else who has Given me aid or encouraGement throuGhout this project and my education. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………….…………………………………………ii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………v INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………..…………………1 Food as Communication and the Rhetorical Situation……………………………...….6 Chapter Breakdown………..….……………………………………………………………………16 References……………………………………………………………...……………………………....21 CHAPTER ONE: TRACING THE FOOD TRUCK………………………………………………………24 Latour’s General Approach to Sociology and the ANT Method…………………...27 The LanGuaGe of the ANT…………………………………………………………………………31 DeployinG Food Truck Controversies……………………………………………………….36 Brick-and-mortar Restaurants…………………………………………………………………42 Mobile VendinG……………………………………………………………………………………….50 Audience of Eaters…………………………………………………………………………………..59 The LAPD……………………………………………………………………………………………..…63 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………...…73 References……………………………………………………………………………………………...76 CHAPTER TWO: FOOD TRUCKS THROUGH THE PANORAMA………………...…….….......81 Panorama of GoodniGht and the Chuck WaGon……..………………..……..................84 The Story of the Lunch WaGon and Tamale Cart………………………..……………110 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………....134 References……………………………………………………………………………………………138 CHAPTER THREE: UNIQUE FORM OF EXPERIENCING FOOD………………………..…….143 Dewey and the Food Truck Experience……………………………..……………………152 Three Stages of a Food Truck Experience…….………………….…………………..….162 The Non-Aesthetic……….……………………………………………………...………………...179 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….……………...184 References……………………………………………………………………………………………188 CHAPTER FOUR: THE SOPHISTICAL RHETORIC OF ROY CHOI………….….…………….196 Platonic Critique and Applebee’s Mobile Food Medium……..…………………….202 Applebee’s Ad CampaiGns………………………………………………………………………206 The Character of the Sophists…….…………………..………………..……………………..213 Choi’s Sophistic Character……………………………………………………………………...220 Choi’s Use of Sophistical Rhetoric………………………………………….………………..228 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….…………240 References…………………………………………………………………………………….….......244 iii CONCLUSION…….…………………………………………………………………………………………….252 Chapter Breakdown…………………………………………………………….………………..259 ConcludinG ThouGhts………………………………………………………..…………………..261 References…………………………………………………………………………………………...262 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………………………....………264 iv ABSTRACT This analysis is an attempt to study the rise of a new mobile food medium the food truck. I examine the movement of rhetorical actors, the situation, the audiences, and discourses created and sustained through rhetorical practices. These include lookinG into contemporary controversies, the history and storytellinG that helps to convey identity, a new aesthetic experience created by the medium, and specifically their sophistic character and rhetoric helpinG them speak on issues of social justice and change. To understand these texts, I examine each of them in liGht of their rhetorical situation and the converGence of a multitude of kairotic factors. I use the situation as a hinGe to examine how the movement, throuGh its rhetorical practices and characters have changed the foodscape and the foodways of the communities in which they are active. v INTRODUCTION Chatsworth Street runs east to west throuGh the suburban community of Granada Hills California. Its four lanes channel a Great volume of motor traffic through the center of the city. Most of the seven miles provides access into the heart of the suburban landscape of residential homes. Part of the town, commonly called the Old Granada VillaGe, also functions as a “main street” (Bartholomew 2011). BorderinG the main street, particularly between White Oak and ZelZah Avenues, are large sidewalks on both sides, ficus trees shading sections of the concrete, and one- story buildinGs used as commercial storefronts and restaurants. There is even an iconic row of palm trees dividinG lanes going east and west bound. People can be seen year round parking their cars along the wide road to shop and dine in a town that has a maximum averaGe temperature of 76.29 °F and minimum averaGe of 49.69 °F.1 In many ways, Granada Hills embodies an idealiZed 1950s Americana main street. But Chatsworth Street has an important distinction because it is located close to “ground zero” of the viral-food-truck outbreak of 2008 in Venice Beach California.2 The Los AnGeles area was underGoinG the costs of inventing/reinventing the “mobile kitchen,” or food truck. The invention set loose actors who mediated not only the eatinG patterns of late niGht bar Goers and the lunchtime blue collar office workers, but also served symbolically to open up further discourses and concerns 1 As cited on http://www.usa.com/granada-hills-ca-weather.htm. 2 Viral is a term specifically referencinG/foreshadowinG the important inteGration of social media within the food truck medium and its community. Roy Choi and the KoGi BBQ Truck are often cited for startinG the food truck revolution (Shouse 2011; Myrick 2012). 1 over larGer food systems. In other words, the food truck was and still is a siGn of chanGe to the foodscape of the community. It creates a space where chanGe can happen in the forms of debates or dialoGues on a ranGe of topics includinG the followinG; the relationship between the economy and social justice, how technoloGy changes the social landscape, the ethics of land use and the practices of GrowinG/producinG food stuff, the rise of foodie Gourmandism, concerns of bodily health and dietary practices, and/or the nature of eatinG habits and their impact on one’s relation to others and the landscape. In effect, studyinG the food truck actors illuminates another means of mediatinG messaGes to hundreds of thousands of individuals about what the foodscape could and should be durinG a massive transition of social patterns of interaction. This rhetorical dimension contributes to the sense that the rise in popularity and spread of food trucks is a unique situation, in some ways a mini- social movement, amonG many historical technoloGical intrusions into everyday life that demands further analysis. However, while the intrusion and chaos is ideal for the movement, it was certainly not without tension for those actors livinG or runninG certain businesses in Granada Hills at the time. Granada Hills has large streets, ideal sidewalks with shade, and plenty of parkinG, makinG it an ideal environment for food trucks to find a market and a perfect testinG Ground for this new innovation. As it happened, it took just one food truck to find the riGht location to start a snowball effect. As one of these new mobile kitchens started to have success, another truck would show up, then another, and 2 then another. Bartholomew (2011) stated, “What started as a couple of food wagons parked early this year… has Grown into a full-on traveling food court” (para. 5). Before lonG, they were fiGhtinG amonGst each other for the increasinGly limited space along Chatsworth Street. By the end of 2011, according to Charles Beris, Granada Hills had the "largest non-orGaniZed food truck GatherinG in Los AnGeles" (as cited in Bartholomew para. 9). From the perspective of the food truckers rollinG into Granada Hills and settinG up their kitchens, their arrival seemed to brinG nothinG but Good news. In the midst of a national recession, Chatsworth Street was an oasis filled with customers lookinG for somethinG to eat and willinG to pay a premium price. AccordinG to Bartholomew (2011): Sanjay Patel, owner of Bollywood Bites, was amonG the first trio of trucks on the street, in January. Now his Indian food is amonG the most popular draws. "I Get more business