The Concept
When I first started on the cookbook, I created chapters for street food, underground food, corp food, Japanese food, and Elven food. There were a lot of good recipes in each chapter, but there wasn’t anything tying them together.
As I worked on the Sauces chapter, with the idea of sauces being the thing to elevate some base like noodles, potatoes, or rice into a meal you want to eat, the idea of this being a cookbook written by a chef on the street came into focus.
And who could be a chef from the streets? A troll - who’s going to mess with a troll? So Neon Knife was born (not with that name; he was Littl’ Knuckles) and his food cart.
As I started to film videos of my recipes I quickly discovered two things: The camera looking over my shoulder as I cooked was not ideal, and my kitchen doesn’t have a Shadowrun feel (and if I made it have that feel my wife would not be happy.
So, the idea was born of my alter ego having a food cart, and making a food cart of my own as the stage for my cooking videos.
The Design
The design of the food cart has evolved over time. At first I thought of making a true prop - something that looked like a cart, but wasn’t. I quickly grew past that and wanted to make something that was more real.
As I mocked things up in onShape (a free online CAD program) I quickly realized that I wanted a real food cart that I could hook up to my car and take places.
That realization drove the design. Where would the cart live? In the backyard (where I would shoot the videos, and the homeowner’s CCA wouldn’t let me keep it in the front yard anyway. To get the cart into the backyard, it had to fit through the gate, which is 36”.
With this limitation in mine, the design quickly came together. I created a list of all the features I wanted and then worked to get them all in. Here is the top level list:
Throw in a stove down below for baking and a place to steam rice, and that pretty much wraps it up.
The Future
The future is a hard thing to nail down, but here are some of my thoughts.
As a prop for videos, I want to make a lot videos with it. I an planning on setting it up with four or five cameras so I can make a dish and have all the shots I need so I can edit them together later. A little unrealistic I know, but it is the future.
I want to be able to have people come over and have a meal with me - and be in the videos. I think it will be a great way to build community. I love meeting new people, and maybe I can get people to come in costume.
Long term, I’d love to take the cart on the road. Go to a street fair or two. Maybe drop by the beach and give food away to passers-by. Cater someone’s Shadowrun game - that would be so cool. Birthday party?
The future is a big place, we’ll see where it goes.