iN VIDEO: New Kamloops food truck serves authentic Mexican eats, treats and music

Foodies in Kamloops and the surrounding area now have a festive authentic Mexican food truck to visit for crispy tacos, soft tacos and nachos topped with tasty ingredients and zesty sauces.

Opened earlier this spring, Tachingon is operated by a family who immigrated from Mexico in 2018 to pursue work and educational opportunities. It took roughly a year for them to turn an RV into a clean, functional food truck with colourful lights and bouncy Mexican music playing.

“We love Mexican food and we just want to share that love with everyone else,” David Cazares told iNFOnews.ca.

“We love to share our culture and we try to bring authentic parts of it to Canada. Tachingon is a colloquial way of saying ‘the best.’”

Cazares is known in the city as a trained singer serenading in the community while dressed up as a charro, which is a traditional horseman from Mexico. He’s currently attending Thompson Rivers University taking a graphic design program. He said the food truck is something he does for fun on the side.

The menu is made up of favourite foods Cazares grew up eating and making.

“It’s all made from my grandma’s recipes,” he said. “We only use authentic corn tortillas because corn is the main thing we eat in Mexico, at least where I was from.

“We make the soft tacos, the crispy tacos and nachos, and authentic Mexican dessert called Flan, it’s like a custard. We have pork, ground beef and chicken and we add the toppings to create all the flavours.”

The food prep is done at an industrial kitchen in town. By the time the food truck opens, there is hot food and fresh toppings like pickled onions, sour cream and salsa ready to be wrapped up for quick service.

Kamloops resident Jaxson Rands stopped to try the food for the first time after spotting the truck in the parking lot. He eats Mexican food at local restaurants often.

“It’s good we have something like this here, I’m definitely excited to try it out,” he said. His order of crispy chicken tacos was served up right away loaded with shredded cabbage, pickled onion and sauces.

After biting into a chicken taco, Rands nodded his head in approval.

“It’s definitely awesome, yea, it’s delicious,” he said.

A neon sign inside the truck and a painting on its outside show a character that represents Mexico’s annual Day of the Dead celebration for honouring deceased loved ones. The Mexican music and festive atmosphere are part of the customer experience.

“Normally we listen to the music at home but here we blast it and people like it and sometimes dance around,” Cazares said. “We love to share with people and I think we transmit that. It makes us more successful because we enjoy what we’re doing.”

He said making authentic food using his grandma’s recipes makes him feel more connected to his Mexican roots.

In recent weeks, the food truck has popped up at local Thrash Wrestling and hockey events, and at locations in Barriere and Heffley Creek.

Most of the time the truck is found in the RONA parking lot at 416 Mt Paul Way on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“So far we’ve had a great response from the community and a lot of invitations to show up for events,” Cazares said. “It is a positive outcome.”

Go here to follow the Tachingon food truck for updates and event locations.