A HUSBAND and wife team of two intensive care nurses has turned a love of food and cooking into food truck Mrs Piggy's Wheels, which launches in Newcastle this Saturday.
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With Jo and Jamie Bisson at the helm, Mrs Piggy's was inspired by the couple's long-held passion for food, which included making chutneys and pickles at home from scratch, making big batch dishes for lucky colleagues, and cooking for friends and family at home.
Jo told Food & Wine she'd mulled over different options for sharing her passion for food, such as market stalls, but was struck by the idea of a food truck about eight months ago. Her love of cooking, however, goes back much further. It is a love shared by Jamie.
"We've been together 12 years and we share a love of cooking and restaurants. We met overseas in Europe and we've just always loved food ... we've always done lots of cooking and parties," Jo told Food & Wine.
With the idea of a food truck planted in her head ("I couldn't stop thinking about it"), Jo began researching the food truck market in Sydney and Melbourne. She also looked locally at trucks (for example El Loco Poco and Harrys Schnitzel Joint), which operate at markets across the Hunter region.
The next key step for Mrs Piggy's Wheels was the truck itself, which they drove to Melbourne in December where it was fitted out with a small but mighty kitchen.
"You need to know what your menu is before you put your equipment in because you're confined to such a small space. For us, we do a lot of slow-cooked dishes so we need a really good oven. When you've got a small space, you've really got to make it work," Jo said.
The couple made sure the truck's kitchen was capable of putting out dishes which reflected their varied tastes and made the most of produce in season in the region.
"With our vision, our design and our menu, we are flexible. At the moment we're cooking slow-cooked meats, but as the seasons change we will too. We want to be seasonal," Jamie said.
"We're using predominantly local produce: all of our meat is local, the furthest afield [supplier] is Muswellbrook. We really want to use local produce, local meat and local fruit and veg wherever possible. We want to celebrate it.
"We want our menu to be seasonal, adaptable and flexible."
They're also placing a heavy importance on making things from scratch. You won't find any mass-produced tomato sauce on their bacon and egg rolls - it will be Jo's chutney. It's all about sharing food they like to eat with punters.
"We're serving scrumptious street food with soul: it's our soul on a plate really," Jo said.
An added bonus of making things from scratch is that it cuts down the amount of processed food on the menu.
"Quality is paramount - we want to produce good food," Jamie said.
The Mrs Piggy's Wheels breakfast, lunch and party menu reflects the worldly influences on the Bisson's tastes, from French breakfasts of a croque-monsieur (a toasted sandwich of double-smoked ham with creme fraiche, Dijon and gruyere cheese mixture which the couple "fell in love with" when they were in Paris) to Mediterranean-inspired lunches such as panzanella salad with chickpeas. There are also nods to Southern cuisine in dishes such as slow-cooked beef in a barbecue sauce on a freshly baked roll (from their resident baker), with side of hand-cut triple-cooked chips, twice-cooked sweet potato chips or crunchy onion rings.
The food truck's party menu - ideal for weddings, birthdays and anniversaries - includes canapes, mains and desserts. Party sweets include Jo's own Portuguese custard tarts, and dark chocolate mousse with raspberries, rounded off with a selection of sweet treats.
Many of the dishes on the Mrs Piggy's Wheels menu also incorporate pork.
There's the bacon and free-range egg roll with Mrs Piggy's own outback tomato relish, and slow-cooked pulled pork on fresh baked roll, apple slaw, chipotle sauce and a side of crackling.
Indeed, the couple's love of pork products inspired the food truck's name.
Look for Mrs Piggy’s Wheels food truck around the Hunter region (see their website and Facebook page for dates and locations) or book it for your own event. The truck is being launched on Saturday at The Croatian Wickham Sports Club, 11.30am-4.30pm. The launch includes free family entertainment (face painting, jumping castle and games), and music from Kirsty Bolton, Jackson Besley, James Bennett, and Masterclass. Food and drinks available for purchase. Visit: mrspiggyswheels.com.au, facebook.com/mrspiggyswheels
