Categories: Food

Happy Hippy Food Truck: Putting a new Spin on Local Food (literally)

Getting the nourishment we need in our lives often comes at a hefty price!

The Happy Hippy Food Truck (HHFT) came to fruition out of a lack of locally grown, plant based food in the Philadelphia area. Leave it to co-founders Nicole Beddow and Justine Carmine, who challenged the affordability and accessibility of living and eating green with the Happy Hippy Food Truck. We chatted with them to hear more about their mission and food truck.

Happy Hippy Food Truck: Philly Love Affair

HHFT buys local and organic first. Their goal is to support small businesses with a barter and trade type of system, so that you can relax guilt-free and enjoy a bag of crunchy granola.

Justine and Nicole, both temple alumnae, acknowledged a void on campus (of plant-based and environmentally friendly options) and made the decision to enable real change.

Lucky for you Philly-residents, HHFT is carrying their environmentally conscious business beyond Temple’s campus.

Foodie Points: Earn Your Snack

Happy Hippy Food Truck Founders & yogis Nicole Beddow and Justine Carmine

Every health foodie knows a healthy diet is meaningless without it’s exercise counterpart. HHFT aims to serve the community of Philadelphia with fresh food and “a side of fitness and fun.”

The adorable 2-wheeler not only exists to provide the community with the resources necessary for a healthy diet, but to inspire getting active too.

HHFT offers free yoga classes in Fairmount Park all summer. If you are feeling spontaneous, step right up to a completely free and enriching experience.

Fuel for Thought: Wheels Run the World

Sustainable food is as much fuel for the body, as it is for the Earth, which is why the Happy Hippy Food Truck is on wheels (only 2 of them!).

The only energy this business requires to survive is provided by feet (well-nourished ones)!

“We want to model that success does not have to equate to committing more resources than are currently available to obtain a goal swiftly.”

So what’s next for the Happy Hippy Food Truck?

These ladies have plans in the works to design a truck that runs on old fryer oil that has vertical gardens for growing herbs and spices. The truck would run on solar energies and have a compost bin and rack for yoga mats on the back.

If that isn’t inspiring enough, HHFT is also in the process of designing biodegradable to-go containers, and ZERO waste hemp t-shirts.

For more details or ways to get involved:

Look out for the Happy Hippy Food truck all over the city this summer. The HHFT is a regular food vendor at Venice Island in Manayunk every Thursday and Friday from 6-10pm.

TempleU students can also look forward to HHPT attending Welcome Week this August! If you haven’t caught a glimpse of the truck yet, check the hashtag #bespontaneous on social media: you’ll find plenty of photo opps, or follow their locations on twitter @happyhippyfood.

Readers, have you given the Happy Hippy food truck a whirl? What’s your current favorite food truck?

Julia Davis

Julia Davis is finishing her second year at Temple University. She has a great love for many art forms including dance, creative writing and visual arts. As a Pittsburgh-native, she has developed a great love for repurposing used or abandoned materials and making art out of them, but most of all loves a good snuggle with her dog Fig.