It may seem unbelievable today, but it wasn’t until 2010 – years after they had already become a staple of the food culture in nearby U.S. cities like Seattle and Portland – that the City of Vancouver finally approved a pilot program that allowed local food trucks to serve anything other than hot dogs and chestnuts.

Today, there are several hundred food trucks throughout the Lower Mainland, and their presence at public and private events and on busy city streets is so ubiquitous that we almost take them for granted.

But food trucks have not only contributed significantly to diversifying the region’s culinary scene, they also occasionally help support a good cause.

A typical example: CultivATE.

First launched in 2021, the CultivATE food truck is part of the registered charity ElevATE, which works to provide food security, training and employment for people from marginalised and underrepresented backgrounds. Since 2022, it has exclusively employed women from Ukraine who fled the country after the Russian invasion began that same year.

“We decided to only hire women from Ukraine who had fled the war and came here with their families to settle,” says Tabitha Geraghty, executive director of the ElevATE Society. “We took them in with no experience, gave them training and certifications (in food handling), and gave them jobs for a living wage, benefits and access to health care. We have already successfully put nine women through our program.”

The CultivATE truck was at an event for Vancity customers and employees in Delta at the end of July.

“One of our biggest supporters, from the beginning,” says Geraghty.

It was last seen at the Richmond Sunflower Festival and will be seen at the Richmond Maritime Festival from August 24-25.

CultivATE changes its menu frequently to “keep things interesting and keep people coming back,” Geraghty says. For a while, the truck served Ukrainian food made using the employees’ own recipes. Lately, the focus has been on tacos and “incredible grilled cheeses that are nothing like mom’s taste.”

Geraghty, who describes her Ukrainian coworkers as “the hardest-working people I’ve ever met,” points out that the work experience provided by CultivATE prepares the women well to find work elsewhere if they decide to move.

“I like to say, ‘If you work in the restaurant industry, you’ll never go hungry.’ If they need to get their families back together and move to Alberta because it’s cheaper there, they can easily get a job in a restaurant with a recommendation from ElevATE. It doesn’t have to be their career, but it’s always a foundation.”

CultivATE also operates a catering service that benefits greatly from positive word of mouth.

“We hosted a famous person’s birthday party last night,” says Geraghty, a hint of disbelief still in her voice. “I don’t want to say his name, but I had no idea who it was until I arrived. He seemed very satisfied with the food.”

To learn more about CultivATE, visit cultivatefoodtruck.com.