It’s Thanksgiving Eve and just outside of town a very nice married couple park their very small food trailer on the side of a main thoroughfare every day except Sunday to sell their wares … home made tamales , taco plates with rice and beans , burritos . At the quality of food verses price we find ourselves there quite often just as we did today. I sat at the table under their shade tent to enjoy my favorite, The Quesadillas with fresh , and I do mean fresh … salad garnered with lime and cilantro just like you’d get anywhere south of the border. At just Five Bucks I’m thinking why squander my hard earned Social Security money for junk food at any of the 32 brand new corporate owned fast food joints that have sprung up all over town like unappetizing mushrooms . All of them lacking enough staff to even wipe a table clean….
The trailer is barely large enough for the two of them to fit in while they produce the hot meals they serve through the window all day and is spotless. It shows pride , and in my opinion well deserved as they went without help from any one to scrape the money in order to buy it and take a chance on self sufficiency .
“What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving Day dinner at your house tomorrow ? ” …. we asked and the answer came in Spanish …
” Very traditional , turkey, mashed potatoes and baked sweet potato along with a green bean casserole ”
The nice couple laughed at me because I mentioned I’m doing a very slow cooked and totally untraditional rack of ribs just like last year. What isn’t a laughing matter is the the effort this couple put in to being self employed Mom and Pop business owners asking no help from any one and receiving exactly that . Meanwhile county officials change zoning and bend rules and offer tax incentives and subsidies to the likes of corporate owned resorts and fast food chains that will eventually choke out Mom and Pop .
I’ll never spend a dime at our soon to be completed multi million dollar Sun Seekers Resort here in town as they’ve already had more help than they deserve . Instead I’ll drive to the edge of town as often as I can in hopes it helps a small green food trailer stay afloat as they are who I’m giving my thanks to this Thanksgiving Day .
maybe the day after they’ll have turkey tacos … a whole new American tradition
