There was more than delicious native cuisine on the menu during Thursday鈥檚 launch for Songhees Seafood and Steam food truck at Victoria Clipper鈥檚 Belleville Street terminal.
There was a palpable spirit of collaboration as tourism officials, First Nations members and community and business leaders gathered on a hot, sunny morning to celebrate the arrival of the newest addition to Victoria鈥檚 thriving food truck scene. It was the culmination of a partnership between Songhees Nation and Victoria Clipper that underscored the 鈥済reat minds think alike鈥� maxim.
The joint venture was hatched two years ago when Songhees Nation Chief Ron Sam and Clipper founder and chairwoman Merideth Tall realized they both shared a vision for a food truck.
鈥淚t was truly a team effort to get us to where we are today,鈥� said Sam following a ceremonial performance by Lekwungen Traditional Dancers.
鈥淭his is about true collaboration,鈥� said Tourism Victoria CEO Paul Nursey. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a real alignment in the tourism sector of objectives between industry, First Nations and government, whether it鈥檚 the Belleville Terminal or having great new experiental products like this. We鈥檙e working together like we never have before.鈥�
David Roger, the award-winning former executive chef at the Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour, is the culinary mastermind for the food truck, staffed by three cooks and two cashiers.
Indeed, while the lively launch wasn鈥檛 as fancy or elaborate as the launch of Riyadh Marriott鈥檚 Terrace Grill in Saudi Arabia that he oversaw, it鈥檚 a labour of love.
鈥淚 wanted to try something different,鈥� said Roger, whose menu includes Indian tacos, wild sockeye salmon burgers, bison burgers, gluten-free bannock bread, salmon salad, clam chowder, pastries and a full espresso bar. Healthy options include crispy greens with honey and lavender vinaigrette dressing, candied walnuts and dried cranberry; and a romaine salad with bannock croutons and Salt Spring Island cheese.
Potential adds-on include candied smoked sockeye salmon, wild sockeye salmon and venison garlic and herb sausage.
As part of the partnership, Roger will train Songhees community members at the Songhees Wellness Centre kitchen to staff the truck through a Camosun College-supported Red Seal apprenticeship program.
鈥淥ur overall vision is that once this is established and he has some free time he would turn his attention to our [Songhees Wellness Centre] industrial kitchen,鈥� said Sam.
鈥淟ast year he put a sockeye salmon burger together that was the talk of the [Aboriginal Cultural] Festival,鈥� Sam recalled. 鈥淲e had people tweeting about how it maybe should be a food truck item and now it is.鈥�
Familiar faces included Rev. Ian Powell, general manager of the Inn at Laurel Point. He is also an Anglican minister who does Christ Church Cathedral鈥檚 early-morning mass on Thursdays.
鈥淚t takes my guests by surprise sometimes,鈥� laughed Powell, who wears his collar each Thursday.
Powell is an old friend of Tall, whose tourism enterprise brings 220,000 visitors to the capital region each year.
鈥淭hey are our American partners, so they don鈥檛 have to be cognizant of First Nations stuff unless they want to,鈥� he noted. 鈥淭he fact that they are means there is a genuine base to them.鈥�
Retired accountant Walter Creed and his wife Pam were there to support Songhees Nation and Roger, Creed鈥檚 son-in-law.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a captive audience for hours before a sailing, so this is a natural,鈥� said Creed. 鈥淎nd. David loves teaching so teaching young people to become servers, cooks and so on is a perfect thing for him.鈥�
Paul Rayman, the Victoria film producer (Gracepoint) and co-owner of The Pedaler, the guided bicycle tours and rentals business based in Huntingdon Manor Hotel, was among the Victoria Clipper tourism partners excited about the food truck鈥檚 arrival.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fantastic because two questions we often get are 鈥榃here can we get good seafood?鈥� and 鈥淚s there anything somewhat native to the area we can try?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淭his is about as native as you鈥檙e going to get.鈥�
