It has been a hot summer here in Central Florida, with heat indexes often reaching into the triple digits. When thinking about people who have to work in this heat like farmers or construction workers, there's a group that doesn't often make the list--people who work on food trucks.
Despite temperatures inside food trucks reaching triple digits, and the health risks that come with that, some food truck chefs said their passion outweighs the heat.
鈥淲ith a full board of tickets and the sun out, it can become pretty intense,鈥� said Elliot Hillis, a food truck co-owner and chef. 鈥淵ou don't cook professionally because it's comfortable.鈥�
Hillis started his love affair with food at the age of four and found an aptitude for the art of cooking. After working in the industry for multiple years, he pitched his hand-pulled noodle company to his business partners, known as Red Panda Noodles.
While Hillis and co-owner Seth Parker wanted a storefront, the expensive locations and operating costs made them turn to food trucks as an alternative.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really exciting prospect to just be out all the time and to be where people are,鈥� Hillis said. 鈥淲ith a food truck, you have a place to go to people, and so that helps in slow times because you can almost hunt situations down.鈥�
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Spice and stifling heat
But food trucks come with their own sets of challenges, including heat. Hillis said his truck has reached upwards of 180 degrees. After more than two years operating the truck, he noticed the heat of the kitchen was really affecting his workers, and not just the temperature.
鈥淭he first thing that our new employees have to contend with isn't actually the heat, it's the spice on the truck,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s you cook spicy food, it's an aerosolized thing, so you're just constantly getting hit with weak pepper spray.鈥�
And the summer sun makes it worse.
鈥淭he heat contributes to that, because it's stifling,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat heat grabs a hold of your lungs, almost like you're in a sauna. You can take a long, slow, deep breath, but if you try to gasp and get air in, it's just going to punch you straight in the lungs.
So, Hillis said he learned how to manage his expectations of fresh, cool air to get through his shift.
鈥淚n the few times that it's gotten up in the 180 degree range, you kind of kneel down for a second and it's much cooler, like below waist level, and then you take a few breaths and you get back to the fray,鈥� Hillis said.
Most of his customers had no idea how hot it really gets inside. When asked, customers outside the truck guessed anywhere from 95 to 130 degrees, nowhere near the normal 140 to 180 degree range.
Kiera Diehl is a frequent customer of Red Panda Noodles, and said she鈥檚 fearful for the safety of food truck workers.
鈥淭hese food trucks, they have grills and ovens,鈥� said Diehl. 鈥淚t鈥檚 already hot enough out here; I can鈥檛 imagine being in an insulated metal box.鈥�
Heat and health
It鈥檚 not just the customers concerned about the well-being of these employees, it鈥檚 also some health officials.
Thomas Clinton is a professor in the college of health and human performance at the University of Florida, and he said that food truck workers are at risk of heat related illness.
鈥淥ne of the most common ones that those people would experience is heat exhaustion. Because of the effects of the central nervous system, people start making mistakes,鈥� Clinton said. 鈥淭here are industries over the summer months where their workers experience heat loads, and they鈥檒l fall off of scaffoldings or cut their finger, they just don鈥檛 have as much control in terms of their motor function.鈥�
But despite the risk, Hillis said that his love for cooking outweighs it.
鈥淚've had a few situations on the truck where I didn't know if I was going to pass out or not, and there鈥檚 just no stopping,鈥� Hillis said. 鈥淲hen you get done with that, and you didn't crash and you didn't die, you鈥檙e like, 鈥榳ow!鈥� You appreciate life more, the air tastes sweeter.鈥�
Passion outweighs the risks
For Hillis, that appreciation comes from his customers, including one woman鈥檚 experience with a single dish.
鈥淚 had this woman whose parents escaped Communist China for Taiwan when the exile happened. She said, 鈥極h, you do (noodle dish),鈥欌�� Hillis said.
He said yes, and Hillis delivered his promise of Jjajangmyeon to the woman, but he wasn鈥檛 expecting the tears in her eyes when he asked her how it was.
鈥淪he told me about her dad. He died young, and he made a for her. Her connection to this specific noodle is to her father,鈥� Hillis said. 鈥淪he got to see it again, she got to feel it again.鈥�
Being able to make that connection outweighs the heat -- even with the risk of short-term or long-term health problems.
鈥淚 feel like my life is better for having been a cook. That being said, I've most certainly shortened my life or damaged my body in ways that are irreparable because of the act of cooking,鈥� Hillis said.
鈥淲e're all gonna die. We don't like to think about it. But if I can spend my time doing something that people enjoy, and I enjoy, if I have to die a little younger, I say that I鈥檝e lived a good life so far.鈥�
