Hidden in the shadows of downtown San Jose’s high rises rests a humble white trailer that exudes the savory smells of Mexican chiles and of sweet horchata.
In a few short minutes, the ding of a metal bell announces the arrival of hot-off-the-grill tacos adorned with fresh cilantro, crispy onions and topped with fragrant salsas and juicy lime.
Vegan Veganos, a Mexican-inspired street food truck, put the brakes on and planted its wheels in April 2018.
“There’s really nothing out here that’s just [strictly] plant-based Mexican [food] so we said ‘Let’s be the first,’ and we hopped on it,” said Emmanuel Villa, co-owner and vice president of operations and procedures. “We started building our trailer and started making moves and now it’s been pretty successful.”
Its menu features classic flavorful tacos with a plant-based spin on asada, pastor and chorizo meats.
The truck also whips up novelty Mexican food items such as super nachos and burritos, flavorful shrimpless ceviche, crispy potato and mushroom flautas and a vegan spin on a classic Mexican breakfast, chilaquiles.
“Our food has originality and what makes us unique and different is that we replicate meat dishes but it’s plant-based and that’s what attracts people to us,” said Dalena Bui, co-owner and vice president of marketing and management.
“They see our website and see stuff like super nachos and they’re already comfortable with that, so for them to already feel that way, trying our food can already be a no-brainer,” she said.
Co-owners Villa and Bui both dove into the food truck business after finishing college.
Bui graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in cognitive psychology and human development, while Villa attended a trade school for information technology in Sacramento.
After watching what they said were influential documentaries such as “What the Health” on Netflix, which shows the implications of both meat-based and plant-based lifestyles on human health, Bui and Villa decided to change their habits.
“We said . . . ‘We have to go vegan. There’s no way that we cannot become vegan,’” Bui said. “We didn’t even know what to eat, so we [had] to start experimenting with something.”
With a love for home cooking, Bui and Villa began curating ways to express their new-found vegan identity through cuisine.
“We started coming out with all of these recipes and eventually we said we need to start showing these to our community back in San Jose,” she said.
After fully transitioning their diet, Villa and Bui began showing success with traditionally meat-based Mexican recipes.
With little knowledge of the food truck industry and while still living in Davis, they decided on the idea of a pop-up-based truck which would appear in various locations in San Jose.
They said a food truck is cost-effective and gives them freedom within their business operations.
Villa and Bui want to encourage non-vegans to be open to the idea of their food, regardless of whether patrons regularly eat vegan or not.
“Our food is authentic Mexican food, don’t even let the word ‘vegan’ scare you,” Bui said. “It’s just authentic Mexican food and all of these recipes we took from original ideas and just tweaked or substituted.”
Bui said that with veganism on the rise and more information pushing consumers toward a vegan lifestyle, being a part of the mainstream movement excites them and they hope foodies continue to come back.
“I never really frequently ate vegan food before, but Mexican has always been my favorite,” San Jose resident Jazmin Quinones said. “After a friend showed me the truck, there’s something about it that keeps me coming back.”
With dreams for future success in the business, Bui and Villa are excited to share their love of great food and flavor.
“From there we hope to continue making more trucks and hopefully spread them out and maybe even go into different cities if we learn how to master this one perfectly because it’ll be easier to replicate the next one,” Villa said.
Their goal is to have five sister restaurants with cuisine that can excite vegans and non-vegans alike, aiming to break the stigma of bland plant-based food.
Coming up on their two year anniversary of Vegan Veganos, the plant-based pair is planning a re-launch of their establishment with an updated food truck at the beginning of April.
“‘Vegan’ scares people . . . But just try one taco, there’s nothing to lose,” Bui said.
