The Great Food Truck Race final three pulled in to small town America this week as they arrived in Jonesborough, TN. I thought for sure that taking food trucks to a town with a population of 5000 which had never seen one — let alone three — food trucks sitting in the town square would spell certain doom for the dominating Nom Nom Truck team. Even they were worried about this one. The Grill ‘Em All team seemed to be the preordained winner this week. I mean, what meat eater doesn’t like a good grilled hamburger? I had it in my head that this was just a stereotypical town that would not accept anything foreign, so Nom Nom and Spencer On the Go really had their work cut out for them.
Now one of the biggest mysteries for me thus far this season has been the whole money/food/shopping arrangement. It’s never been fully explained how this all works. Can the teams use their earnings to buy more food? How can they take $400 and turn it into $3000 in the case of the Nom Nom Truck? My prayers were finally answered when we got to see teams actually shut down in the middle of a busy day to buy more food. I don’t know why the producers decided to keep this little bit of information under wraps for so long, but I thank them for lifting the veil on this mystery. Am I the only one who obsessed over this?
I was happy to see that the fine folks of Jonesborough welcomed the teams to town with open arms and open pocketbooks. Every team not only had long lines but each team also surpassed their previous high totals, and if you’ve been keeping count you knew as soon as Tyler Florence made that announcement that the Nom Nom Truck had pulled off an impressive fifth consecutive win. Once again, the two lowest earning teams had to count on the Truck Stop Challenge to put them over the top.
I know that these challenges had to be planned months in advance of shooting (right?) but they always seem designed to help one team more than another. Last week, Frenchy was the only one who knew how to fillet and prepare a catfish properly and this week’s Chuck Wagon Challenge seemed designed for Grill ‘Em All to win hands down. And they did, even though one of the Spencer On the Go teammates had extensive camping experience. But does anyone but a real cowboy know how to prepare an authentic chuck wagon meal … including dessert? Was dessert really an important part of a cowboy’s or western settler’s meal? Again, I’m obsessing. In the end, the challenge went to Grill ‘Em All and they finished this leg in second place by $37. Au revoir, Frenchy.
The Great Food Truck Race has been a great ride so far and I’m going to be sad to see it end after this week’s finale in New York City. I know the show has its fans so I’m just putting it out there to the powers that be at the Food Network — Susie? Bob? — that this has been a really enjoyable and original, albeit short, competition show but it’s definitely leaving viewers like me hungry for more.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Sep 14, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
