LA's Taco Truck War: How Law Cooks Food Culture Contests

University of Miami Law School Institutional Repository University of Miami Inter-American Law Review 10-1-2011 LA's Taco Truck War: How Law Cooks Food Culture Contests Ernesto Hernández-López Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.law.miami.edu/umialr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Ernesto Hernández-López, LA's Taco Truck War: How Law Cooks Food Culture Contests, 43 U. Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev. 233 (2011) Available at: http://repository.law.miami.edu/umialr/vol43/iss1/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Miami InterAmerican Law Review by an authorized administrator of Institutional Repository. For more information, please contact . 233 LA's Taco Truck War: How Law Cooks Food Culture Contests Ernesto Hernindez-L6pez* In 2008, a Taco Truck War broke out in Los Angeles ("LA"), California between local authorities, food trucks and loyal customers.' National and local media picked at the story after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed new regulations, which promised to severely restrict food trucks, referred to as "loncheros"or "taco trucks," in East Los Angeles.2 The authorities and business interests supporting the restrictions argued that the food trucks were a cumbersome and unsightly form of vending. On the opposite side, loncheros, foodies, and those looking for cheap meals viewed the restrictions as a full-frontal attack on local Los Angeles, the food scene, and Mexican food cultures.' Culinary resistance and enforcement of the new restrictions resulted in taco truck litigation. This Article argues that these policy and legal debates have significant cultural and food practice subtexts. While food truck litigation may focus on jurisdiction, statutes, and policymakers pondering over competition and "quality of life" issues, these debates are motivated by negotiations on food's contribution to communal identity, perceived socio-economic status, and public space. * Professor of Law, Chapman University School of Law. The author thanks Matthew Geller of the SoCal MVFA and Erin Glenn of the Asociaci6n de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de California for sharing their experiences; Professors Steven Bender, Dennis Binder, Ingrid Eagly, Cesar Cuauhtdmoc Garcia Herndndez, Kevin Johnson, Alfonso Morales, and Ken Stahl, attorney Angelica Ochoa for their suggestions; Asal Nadjarzadehshiraz for her research assistance; co-panelists and audience members of the LatCrit SNX2010 "The Global Politics of Food: Sustainability and Subordination"; the staff at Rinker Law library; and Chapman University School of Law for travel and research support. 1. Rebecca Winters Keegan, The Great Taco Truck War, TIME, Apr. 25, 2008, available at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1735104,00.html. 2. See Jennifer Steinhauer, In Taco Truck Battle, Mild Angelinos Turn Hot, N.Y. TIMES, May 3, 2008, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/us/03taco.html; Ben Bergman, Taco Truck Battle Heats Up in Los Angeles, NPR (May 5, 2008), http:l www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyd=90149577; Denise Petski, Effort againstLA-area taco trucks loses its bite, USA TODAY, Oct. 4, 2008, available at http:// www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-10-03-2917838081_x.htm; John Rogers, LA County judge tosses out taco truck restrictions,USA TODAY, Aug. 28, 2008, availableat http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-28-2917838081_x.htm. 3. See discussion, infra note 27 (providing pro-regulation arguments) and 29 (providing pro-truck arguments). 234 INTER-AMERICAN LAW REVIEW [Vol. 43:1 This article is comprised of three sections. Section I reports on how popular discourse describes food trucks,4 regulation of them and resistance by them, in the City of Los Angeles ("LA") and Los Angeles County ("LA County") during the 2008-09 period. Referring to global media, local press, community bloggers, online food sources, and government press releases, food trucks emerge as a contested, impassioned, and emblematic site of communal disdain and culinary promise. From this, two developments stand out: a "Taco Truck War,"' as labeled by Time magazine, and a new wave of food trucks was recognized, symbolized in Kogi BBQ's Korean tacos. Section II presents law's impact on food truck culture. It describes two court cases and the relevant doctrine concerning local regulations specific to food truck vending: People v. Margarita Garcia6 (2008) in LA County, and FranciscoGonzalez v. City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation'(2009). Both courts 4. This Article uses the terms "food trucks" or "truck vendors" to refer to food vendors who operate from mobile vehicles, even though technically they don't need to be in trucks and can be in other vehicles. California codes and local ordinances use other terms such as "catering trucks" or "peddlers." "Taco Trucks" is the common term given to many such vendors who sell Mexican food, including but not limited to tacos. The local Spanish terminology for such trucks is "loncheros"or "taqueros."For sake of simplicity and consistency, the Article mostly uses the terms "food trucks," "truck vendors," "loncheros," and "taco trucks," even though they may not be completely accurate. This Article focuses on vendors in mobile vehicles and not on other street vending formats, such as stands or carts, even though many of the same cultural issues and legal doctrine apply. It primarily examines food truck litigation in the Los Angeles area during the 2008-09 period and attempts to place these legal issues in larger policy and culture debates. Focused mostly on this period and because food truck regulation continually develops, in Los Angeles and in other locations, its analysis is by no means exhaustive. Similarly, "on the ground" developments in food trucks may date some of the events described. 5. Rebecca Winters Keegan, The Great Taco Truck War, TIME, Apr. 25, 2008, available at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1735104,00.html. 6. See People v. Garcia, No. 8EA05884 (L.A. Super. Ct. Aug. 27, 2008) (order following demurrer hearing); Garrett Therolf, Taco trucks can stay parked, L.A. TiMEs Aug. 28, 2008, , available at http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/28/local/me-tacos28; John Rogers, LA County judge tosses out taco truck restrictions,USA TODAY, Aug. 28, 2008, available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-28-2917838081_x. htm; Lindsay William-Ross, Taco Trucks Get the Green Light to Put On the Parking Brake, LAisT (Aug. 28, 2008), http://laist.com/2008/08/28/taco-trucks-get-the-green light.php. 7. See Gonzalez v. City of Los Angeles Dept. of Transportation, No. 09K08485 (L.A. Super. Ct. June 8, 2009) (order reversing administrative decision); Phil Willon, L.A. taco trucks can stay parked for business, L.A. TIMES, June 11, 2009, available at http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/11/local/me-tacotrucksll; Elina S (...truncated)