Il designer Cheng-Yo Lee shows us an interesting point of view on the future of food trucks in modern cities. His concept, called YATAI-E, is a “compact restaurant on wheels” consisting of a street food sales station and a lounge for two passengers (improperly speaking of drivers in this case).
Yes, because the YATAI-E food truck is designed to function not only as a mobile kitchen, but also as a autonomous vehicle that allows you to work along the way, anywhere and for any place where you need to work (or stock up on seasonal raw materials). In a hypothetical near future in which everyone will use autonomous vehicles, it is possible that this automation technology could be applied to a food truck. This is a possible interpretation of what these vehicles for the preparation and sale of street food could look like.
Automatic restaurant, versatile cuisine
The word YATAI indicates a typical Japanese street food cart. And in fact this is what it is, even if it is a nice big trolley, which moves by itself and accommodates two passengers. Passengers who can prepare food while traveling, together or alternating, or enjoy the journey and sell food everywhere without getting tired of driving long distances.
Inside YATAI-E, the kitchen is equipped with modular kitchen appliances (also because cooking in a food truck is totally different from cooking in a spacious home or restaurant kitchen). The modularization of this concept allows the automatic counter to be positioned on the left or right side inside the kitchen. This innovative design allows you to position the kitchen structure on the opposite side to adopt left or right driving zones.
More styles, more street food cultures
Modular kitchen appliances allow you to indulge yourself by changing dishes and street food cultures. Just replace the modules in the kitchen space. Not only: Cheng-Yo Lee explains that in crowded places (such as the clogged streets of a festival) the front of the food truck can be detached from the kitchen and parked elsewhere to save space.YATAI-E is a glimpse into the culture of food in the coming years: ubiquitous, relaxed, versatile.
