It’s Saturday night in Flint, and it’s cold out. A small group of figures huddle around a large white truck at 1 a.m. looking for one thing.

Tacos.

Most Friday nights you can find Danny Moilanen parked in the flat lot across from University of Michigan Flint on Saginaw St., cooking tacos and other items that fit somewhere between Soul Food and Tex-Mex on a flat top grill.

For almost a year, Moilanen has owned and operated Vehicle City Tacos, a food truck that serves taco-inspired cuisine in downtown Flint. The truck is committed to using locally grown food and turns to area farmers for most of the ingredients they use.

Chicken and beef come from a farm in Davison. Fresh produce is purchased from the Flint Farmer’s Market and the Flint River Farm.  

Though using local ingredients isn’t the cheapest, Moilanen does for a couple reasons.

“Climate change first and foremost,” Moilanen said. “It’s really important to support localization of food production.”

Supporting his community is a close second.

The 28-year-old business owner says buying from nearby farmers and distributors “injects local money right into our local economy by buying from farmers right here in Genesee County.”

Food quality also plays a factor.

“With fresh produce that’s locally grown, you know a little bit more about the food and where it’s coming from,” Moilanen said. “You know it’s not made with pesticides and I believe it tastes better. The sugars develop better and the color is much more intense.”

Vehicle City Tacos is just one part of a growing trend in the food service industry. The “farm-to-table” movement is no longer a limited relationship between farmers, yuppies and elitist eateries. Companies recognize that consumers are increasingly requesting to eat food that is grown nearby.

Local and national restaurants are latching on to localized food and finding success.

In Michigan, The Detroit Free Press’ Restaurant of the Year for the past two years have been eateries that use mostly, if not all, locally grown food. Torino in 2014 and Selden Standard in 2015 attracted the attention of customers and the press with their use of fresh, seasonal local ingredients in their dishes.

A recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture helps to explain the current popularity of these and other restaurants using local food.

“Trends in U.S. Local and Regional Food Systems: A Report to Congress” shows that there has been an increased consumer demand for locally grown food in recent years.

According to the report, the USDA feels that local foods are linked to their priorities of “enhancing the rural economy, the environment, food access and nutrition, informing consumer demand, and strengthening agricultural producers and markets.”

The results of the report further state that “producer participation in local food systems is growing, and the value of local food sales, defined as the sale of food for human consumption through both direct-to-consumer (e.g., farmers’ markets) and intermediated marketing channels (e.g., sales to institutions or regional distributors), appears to be increasing.”

Fay Hansen sees localized food as a means of mending issues in the way food is produced and consumed in our country.

Hansen is the faculty advisor for the Student Organic Farmers at Oakland University. She has been with the group since its inception five years ago and also teaches a course at Oakland called “The Biology of Food.”

“The food system is very broken,” Hansen said. “People and the environment are very unhealthy because of it.”

Hansen notices a movement towards “food sovereignty” among consumers who assert control over what they eat and not what corporate America tells them to eat. This enables local populations to develop their own agriculture.

“People are trying to take back the food system and get away from so much processed food,” Hansen said. “By bringing it local, you reduce the chemical load of the food you’re eating.”

At the corporate level, Chipotle Mexican Grill is capitalizing on consumer’s increased desire to eat locally grown food. Much like Qdoba, it’s less trendy counterpart, Chipotle serves up Mexican-inspired meals with the speed of fast food but with higher quality and pricing.

Chipotle’s message is simple: “Food with Integrity.” This mantra includes supporting “family farmers who respect the land and animals in their care” as well as sourcing “organic and local produce when practical.”

Short animated videos from the company such as “Back to the Start,” and “The Scarecrow” tell stories of small farmers leaving mechanized food producers. They then sell their own freshly made produce or livestock to Chipotle. Claymation customers who are also tired of the faceless food corporations enjoy the localized product with a smile.

Consumers are eating it up.

According to an October, 2014 report in Forbes, Chipotle had added 43 new restaurants in that quarter and was expected to add another 200 by the end of 2015, bringing the chain’s total locations to 2,000.

Moilanen also plans on expanding his business in the coming future.

As Vehicle City Tacos continues to prep and sell more food on a weekly basis, Moilanen sees a need for growth to keep up with the demand for his local food-inspired tacos.

Opening up for lunch five days a week, up from one or two days a week, and eventually opening a brick-and-mortar operation are Moilanen’s future goals.

After only a year in business, the growing demand for the truck’s tacos shows it is time to expand the current staff of five.

“We need to hire more people now,” Moilanen said.

What to try at Vehicle City Tacos

“The Regular” – The truck’s closest item to a basic taco is a mix of house-made chorizo, Colby Jack cheese, pico de gallo, chipotle crema and fresh cilantro served in a warm corn tortilla.

“The Clucker” – Fried chicken isn’t just for KFC. This taco features free-range fried chicken that’s seasoned and beer-battered, topped with Colby Jack cheese, chipotle crema, pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and locally grown sweet pea sprouts.

“The Flintstoner” – Vehicle City Tacos’ take on a Flint-style Coney dog. This new menu item is a Koegel Vienna hotdog combined with house-made chorizo, southwestern mustard, diced onions, fresh cilantro and queso fresco wrapped in a hot tortilla.

Punk Rock Tacos

Punk rock has historically been a music genre based around tight-knit communities. In order for “scenes” to survive, its members must rely on and support each other. Hosting shows, promoting bands, buying merchandise and embracing a DIY work ethic are all crucial to the survival of small punk rock scenes.

“We’re basically punk rock in taco form,” reads Vehicle City Taco’s Instagram biography.

The description is spot on.

Flint’s one and only food truck promotes and operates much like a hardworking punk band. Promoting their daily setup locations via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, buying ingredients from other local businesses and starting from the ground up in true DIY fashion mirrors punk rock ethics, with success.

Vehicle City Tacos is also known to be involved with Flint’s celebrated punk scene. Moilanen is a Renaissance man of sorts within the scene, playing in bands, managing bands, promoting shows through his own DIY promotions group, Crito DIY, and managing the Flint Local 432, Flint’s all-ages, substance-free music venue, for two years.

Moilanen continues to support Flint’s music scene by setting up his food truck outside of shows at the Flint Local 432, Soggy Bottom bar, Churchill’s and other house shows within the city.