Charlotte food truck owner shares Mexican culture through food

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte woman’s food truck is not only serving food, it is putting her Mexican culture on a plate.

“My family is from Mexico City,” Kimberly Bazan said. “We would visit Mexico City every year when I was younger.”

Bazan has no formal culinary training but learned to cook by watching her father and grandmother in the kitchen. In 2023, she opened her food truck, El Veneno, where she puts her own spin on her family’s recipes.

“We take a lot of time to put in the effort to do different specials that highlight other foods from different regions,” Bazan said.

Bazan specializes in serving food you can find on the streets of Mexico City.

“We do moles,” she said. “We do ceviche. We do a whole bunch of other street food that’s not super popular.”

Bazan is known for serving black al pastor, a marinated pork used in tacos that is typically red.

“The marinade that we use for it is not anything new,” she said. “It’s a prehistoric recipe. It’s called recardo negro. We’re the only ones who do it on the East Coast and in the Carolinas.”

These dishes have built a community that now follows Bazan as she takes her truck around Charlotte.

“It feels nice that people feel like we’re paving the way for a new way of dining in the city,” she said.

As Bazan forges her own path in Charlotte’s culinary scene, she holds her family’s roots close and hopes to honor her culture in every dish. 

“I feel like it’s our job as people in the restaurant industry and as chefs to show people how to dine, show them new things and how things should be eaten as opposed to just catering to their every want and need,” she said. “It is history. It’s culture. I feel like if we change every little thing about food just to make people happy, then we’re going to lose part of our culture.”