Every Friday, all summer long, Idlewild Park comes to life with the sounds of people laughing and the engines of food trucks humming, enticing all passersby to get closer.

But of the 40-plus vendors that frequented Food Truck Fridays in 2023, only around five to six of them served Latin American street cuisine on a weekly basis. However, this number looks to be on the rise. 

John Carlos Hall, owner of the Brazilian Gourmet food stand at Reno Public Market, is one of many vendors in the city who has seen an increase in the demand for his food. As a result, he decided to expand his business with a food truck which he now brings to Idlewild. 

“That’s one of the reasons why I opened the food truck because they wanted me to go to parties and catering is easier when you have a food truck to go to them,” Hall said. “Everybody loves to see us.”

Due to the scarce options in town, Hall said he’s forced to drive out to San Francisco to buy products from his homeland. Yet because of the support that Hall has received from the community, he hopes to one day open a supermarket in Reno.

“Every day at the Brazilian restaurant at the public market, we met a lot of Brazilians,” he said. “They’re like, ‘oh yes!’ Because we’re not like the steakhouse [on N. Virginia Street]. It’s like … street food. … it’s like there’s a little bit of home.”

Steve Schroeder, the founder of Food Truck Fridays, started this popular summer event in 2012. With only five food trucks to choose from at first, he would have to drive around Reno to find and convince people to set up shop at the park. Now this popular happening in town is listed as one of Tasting Table’s 12 food truck festivals to know about in the U.S and reflects the different cultures to be found within the city. 

2021 Census data for the City of Reno shows the Hispanic population at slightly over 23%, and the Latino community, at the national and local level, is only expected to grow according to demographers from the University of California, Los Angeles. The City of Sparks, on the other hand, is already nearly 35% Latino. 

As a result, this growing and increasingly non-Mexican Latino community creates a demand for more varieties of cuisine. Jonathan Nieto, one of the three owners of Arepeichon, reflected on his own reasons for opening a Venezuelan food truck this year alongside his two other friends.

“[For us] missing the food of our land and this type of food not [being] available here, we found we always had to go to Sacramento or Las Vegas [to eat it],” Nieto said. “So we made the decision for ourselves to establish the first Venezuelan food business here in the Reno/Sparks area and Carson City.”

Currently, Nieto visits a different apartment complex each weekend with the goal to get more people to taste his dishes because most people haven’t tried this type of cuisine. He finds that the curious foodies flock to them because their flavors are ones they’ve haven’t had. 

“The people have embraced us very well, with great affection and every weekend that we have opened we have been ‘sold out,’ thank God. And well, I think the success has been that, bringing something new to the city.”

Bringing something new to the Biggest Little City is what also energizes Oscar Garcia, who runs Los Cipotes, a Salvadoran food booth also located at Reno Public Market. 

“People have been eating my … mainly my mom’s food because it’s her recipes. I just help her execute it. And a lot of people like her food. She’s always wanted to be in the restaurant business. She loves it.” 

Michael Tragash, the Northern Nevada marketing director for Yelp, reflects on how the gastronomy has changed since his time in the region and has witnessed how businesses, like Nieto’s and Garcia’s, grow with the support from their fellow community members. 

Within the next five years or so, Tragash predicts that the Biggest Little City will be on every radar. He said that if the demand for these businesses continues, it will create more opportunity for people to experience the various flavors of Reno. 

“I wouldn’t say that people necessarily just know at a casual glance at all this is here, but the community is really hungry for it. And once they find that it’s here, they’re ready at this point and go right to it and try to support it as much as they can.” 

The Food Truck Friday event will kick off again on June 7, 2024 at Ildewild Park.

This article was written by Melanie Mendez, a Noticiero Móvil contributor. It was originally published by KUNR on August 25, 2023.