Festival celebrates meals on wheels

The first-ever Food Truck Festival of NY at Troy's Riverfront Park on Saturday will showcase food ranging from piled-high sandwiches and gourmet sliders to wood-fired pizzas, gyros and a number of sweet treats, including mocha walnut cupcakes.

In addition to the 12 food trucks and two local bars that will be open and selling cold beer with barbecue pulled pork and avocado fries, the High Peaks Band, cover band Funk Evolution and the Chris Dukes Band will provide music to munch by.

Street vendors try to find a local sweet spot with lots of lunch hour traffic, whereas food trucks try to build up a core following and hope that they're delicious and inventive enough that you'll want to find them again and maybe even tell a friend, much like a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Unlike many brick-and-mortar restaurants, both Slidin' Dirty and Wandering Dago are active on social media, tweeting their locations and menus, sharing interesting local news, swapping recipes and just chatting with followers.