Meta Food Truck Stimulates Favela Economy
As you’ve read on Pop-Up City, food trucks have been “all the rage” in cities around the world for the past few years. Here’s a project in Brazil that takes a different spin on the concept: food trucks that, rather than selling food, are training people how to prepare food and manage their own culinary businesses (and maybe even their own food trucks!).
As seen on Springwise, Eu que Fiz (“I Made That” in Portuguese) is a project based in São Paulo. Organized by Selecta, a grocery brand, and the CUFA (Central Favelas Union of Brazil) for the residents of Brazil’s favelas, the project addresses the huge potential for positive economic stimulation in these densely populated, informal, and impoverished settlements.
Following the ancient wisdom of “teaching a person to fish” as the most effective form of charity, the project provides training in a specialized field, with the goal of enabling people to support themselves with their entrepreneurial endeavours of the future. Using a repurposed truck, Eu que Fiz is a mobile class room fully equipped with a learning-kitchen. Dates and locations of the food truck are announced before hand online.
Is Eu que Fiz another example of a company taking the role of the government in providing urban infrastructure and services as part of its branding strategy? The link between Selecta, a food-brand, and food entrepreneurialism makes sense and undoubtedly strengthens the company’s image. If the project is successful, and restaurants and catering services start to pop up in Brazilian favelas, their success will be linked back to Selecta. This, not to mention the possibility of a legion of loyal entrepreneurs who will be buying food from that brand.
