This event is no longer held, but there are plenty of food truck festivals to be found in Berks County. Check out our Food Truck page for more information.

Meals on wheels took on a whole new meaning on Saturday, June 28, during the annual Food Truck Festival at the VF Outlet Center in Wyomissing.

Ten gourmet food trucks from around the region parked outside the Designer Place building to serve festival-goers with internationally inspired dishes.

Big Chipper’s BBQ, Gourmand, Just Jackie’s Food Truck, KAMI Cart, Kino’s Tacos, MAD Sandwiches, Mr. Softie, Smudge Smokehouse, the Chicken Truck and the Perk Up Truck were serving their unique dishes to the hungry masses.

The event was supposed to include a meatball cook-off, but a “cancelled” sign was set up in its place. It was disappointing, but there was still plenty of other foods to try.

I decided to wait out the line at MAD Sandwiches after seeing a sign for their intriguing Latino Parfait. Served in a bowl,  the dish consisted of layers of beans, rice, pork and Argentinian Chimichurri sauce.

The pork was cooked perfectly and well-seasoned. On its own, the Chimichurri sauce tasted a little too much like mustard when eaten on its own, but mixed with the remaining ingredients, it created a delicious, full-flavored dish that would be a welcome addition on any restaurant’s menu.

Smudge Smokehouse caught the attention of my wife so she waited in a long line to try one of their barbecue specialties: brisket tacos.

In addition to the standard lettuce, the taco was topped with mango salsa and chipotle cream sauce. The brisket picked up a nice smokey flavor, and that smokiness blended perfectly with the sweetness of the mango and the slight spice of the sauce to create a well-balanced dish.

For dessert, we decided to split a smoothie from the Perk Up Truck. And though we could have combined any number of flavors, we settled on a simple banana smoothie topped with a heavy dose of whipped cream.

A mix of bananas, milk, sugar and ice, the smoothie was basically a milkshake without the ice cream. It was a nice, sweet treat, especially on such hot afternoon.

In the end, there were just too many food trucks and not enough room in my stomach to try something from all of them.

But that just means I get to try something new at next year’s festival.

Editor’s Note: The last Pepper Jam, then known as Berks Pepper Jam, occured in 2022.

Kempton, PA is about as far removed from Reading as one can get in Berks County. Not only is it just a stone’s throw from the Lehigh County line, but it is one of the smallest communities in the county.

Yet the village of just 169 residents has become a destination. The Kempton Music Center, along with the surrounding Kempton Community Center, hosts many popular events including the Kempton Country Fair and the Pinnacle Jam.

On May 24 and 25, the Kempton Pepper Jam made its debut and became an instant success.

With food vendors from near and far descending on the hills of northern Berks County, I couldn’t miss a chance to feel the heat.

Penelope Pepper was one of the many hand-painted peppers that greeted the happy heat seekers. The Americana sounds of the Youngers echoed throughout the fairgrounds where dozens of vendors were set-up with a variety of pepper-infused foods and drinks.

The hot food options were a little limited, but everything was quality. Big Chippers BBQ had pit beef and pulled pork and there were stands serving Cajun fries, hot pepper sandwiches and hamburgers.

But with the event being promoted by the Penn Werner Hotel, I figured their stand was the logical place to start. Thankfully, they had one word on the menu that makes me happier than just about any other: sampler.

As a food blogger, there is nothing better than a sampler platter, and this one featured three excellent dishes: jambalaya, Thai chicken on a stick and noodles in peanut sauce.

Everything tastes better when it’s served on a stick, at least that’s my theory. The chicken was good, but was not nearly as spicy as I was expecting from a Thai sauce. Instead, my wife’s jerk chicken on a stick packed a lot more punch. The hottest thing on my plate was, ironically, the cold noodles in peanut sauce.

As an old Dutchy, I like my noodles served hot, but these were delicious. The peanut sauce had enough peanut to get the flavor, but not too much that it turned into peanut butter. There was definitely an aftershock from the heat. Thankfully, the jambalaya was there to cleanse the palate. The jambalaya was fairly mild, but still delicious, starting with a very flavorful mild sausage as the base.

Following lunch, I headed out among the vendors in search of fire. I started my journey at the Sloppy 2nd BBQ Sauce stand. My favorite of the sauces from this Barto, PA company had to be the peach bourbon sauce, which had a mix of smokey and sweet with a little bit of heat for good measure. It was by far the best sauce that I tasted at the event.

Some of the other highlights at the festival included Saint Lucipher, whose hot spice rub was tossed on popcorn to give just a hint of the heat. Cactus Pete’s Jerky had a range of beef jerky flavors that went from sweet to hot, including the delicious, mouth-drying Jamaican Me Crazy blend.

The event was also family friendly, with kids craft and game stations, and train rides available on the neighboring Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern Railroad.

My only regret was missing out on the pepper eating contest…not that I am brave enough to enter myself, but there’s nothing wrong with watching others suffer.

It was great to see the event be such a success in its first year. Here’s hoping that the 2015 Kempton Pepper Jam is bigger and better than the first. Though I don’t know if it could get much hotter.