BB-INT012 — Carmen Rodriguez

Oh, honestly? It's chaos, it's — okay so it's like 5:15, I've just got the kids from after-care, everybody's starving, everybody's got homework they haven't mentioned until that exact second, and I'm standing in the kitchen going, right, what do I have, and the answer is usually nothing, or three things that don't make a meal — sorry, one sec — [to child] no, you can have it after, put it down — sorry. Where was I. Yeah. So at the end of the day the real question isn't "what do I feel like," it's "what will everyone actually eat without a fight," and that's a very short list. That's like a four-item list.

So they're on it, which is kind of a miracle honestly, because — you have to understand my kids are brutal. My youngest thinks anything green is a personal attack. But the brisket taco, the smoked one? Both of them will eat it. No negotiation. And that basically never happens, so when I found that out it was like, okay, this is a card I can play. It's in the rotation now.

A truck at a — it was one of those weekend festival things by the waterfront, summer before last I think? The kids smelled it before I did, they dragged me over. And I remember thinking it'd be, you know, festival food, expensive and fine. And it wasn't fine, it was actually really good, and that surprised me. I think that's the whole thing with them — you expect gimmicky and it isn't. The flavours make sense, it doesn't feel like they're doing weird-for-the-sake-of-weird. So that stuck with me.

Okay, this is the one that got me — the plant-based one. I ordered it for me, right, thinking I'd be the only one, and my ten-year-old steals a bite off my plate like she does with everything, and then she just — ate half of it. And I'm sitting there like, you won't touch a pea at home but you'll eat this? [laughs] I genuinely don't understand it. But I'm not going to question a win. At the end of the day if it gets a vegetable-adjacent thing into her, I'm buying it.

Yeah. Yeah, so — this is the honest part. It's crept up. When I first started it felt like a treat that wasn't crazy, and now, feeding four of us, it's — it's basically the same as taking everyone to an actual sit-down place, and then I'm doing the driving and the cleanup, you know? So there's a number in my head. If a family dinner off the truck lands around, I don't know, fifty, fifty-five, I'll do it and not think twice. Once it's pushing seventy-something I start going, hmm, for that I could've — and then it becomes a "sometimes" thing instead of a "sure, why not" thing. I still think it's worth it, don't get me wrong. It's just moved from everyday to occasion. Honestly a family bundle, like a set price for two adults two kids, that would keep me coming way more often. I'd basically pre-decide it was allowed.

A hundred percent. Give me "here's the family deal, it's this much," and I don't have to do math while three people yell menu items at me. That's the dream, honestly.

Oh my god, yes, okay. [laughs] So — this still bugs me. It was a Thursday, brisket night, I'd sold it to the kids in the car, we're all excited, and I drive to where the truck normally is, the spot near the — by the plaza, and it's just... not there. Empty. And I'm sitting in the parking lot with two kids melting down in the back going "where is it, where is it," and I have no way to know if it moved, if it's late, if it's just not coming. Nothing. And that's — honestly that's the thing that stops me being a real regular, more than the price even. Because the price I can plan around. But the not-knowing? I can't build a Thursday around a maybe. I ended up getting them McDonald's, which, they were thrilled, and I was so annoyed. [laughs]

So this is the thing — I have the app. And I did open it, actually, before, I think? Or after, I can't remember. But it didn't tell me anything useful. Like it showed me a menu but not whether that specific truck was open right then or where it actually was that day. So it kind of — it looked like information without being information, if that makes sense. If it had just said "this truck is here today, open till nine," I'd have known. I mostly use it to check am-I-going-to-waste-a-trip, and right now it can't answer that, so I've kind of stopped trusting it.

Completely. Honestly that's the whole ballgame for me. I don't need it to be fancy, I don't need games or, you know, a spinny points wheel. I need "yes, go" or "no, don't bother." That's it. If it did that I'd use it every single time before I left the house, because the downside of guessing wrong is two crying kids and a wasted twenty minutes. [background: child asking something] — sorry, two seconds — [to child] the blue one's in the dryer, ask me after. Sorry. Yeah. Just tell me it's open. That's all.

Ehhh. So — okay, my honest answer is my inbox is a war zone. It's a disaster. I get forty emails a day from every store I've ever walked into, and I delete all of them without reading, so another one going "this week's specials!" — no. That's just clutter, I'd unsubscribe in a week. Butbut — if it was actually useful? Different story. Like if it told me the truck near me is going to be at the plaza Thursday and Friday this week, or here's your family deal this month, or — the kids would lose their minds if they emailed me "new taco, kids eat free Sunday" or whatever. That I'd open. At the end of the day I don't want news, I want a plan. Tell me something I can act on. The loyalty thing, honestly, I think I have points somewhere? I've never once figured out what they're for. So that's just — that's doing nothing for me right now.

Yes. Exactly that. Everything's a to-do list in my life, so if you can take one decision off my plate you're my favourite brand. If you're just talking at me you're in the trash with the rest of them. [laughs] Sorry, that's harsh. But you know what I mean.

Totally different, yeah. Weekend it's not about solving dinner, it's — it's an outing, it's a thing we do. We'll go find the truck on purpose, make an afternoon of it, the kids like the whole — standing at the window, watching them make it, no forks, eating it with your hands, they think that's hilarious. That's when I'm relaxed about spending, honestly, because I'm paying for the afternoon, not just the food. That's the version of BorderBlend I love the most. The weeknight version is more, like, please just be reliable. But the weekend version? That's the fun one. That's the one I'd tell other parents about.

I'd say — go, the brisket'll win the kids over, it's genuinely good and not the greasy sad food-truck thing you're picturing. And then I'd say, but check before you drive, because — [laughs] — because I learned that one the hard way. That's my actual review. Great food, just phone ahead. Or, you know, app ahead. Whatever.

Oh, anytime, honestly — this was basically therapy, I never get to talk about dinner for forty minutes without someone asking me for a snack halfway through. [background: child] — okay, and there it is. [laughs] Good timing. Thank you!

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