We will only open by preorder pop up in 2021 so stay tuned for event announcements! !! After a weekend of stuffing ourselves silly, piles of meat and all things dairy and butter and sugar and pies, oh my, the PIES... we settled in on the couch and started watching some documentaries on Netflix about our food. Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead was the first of many. Joe Cross,
you were a catalyst for this whole thing, I'll have you know. I was amazed by the amount of weight that could be lost if someone flooded their body with juices. My husband Ben and I went out that weekend and got a Breville juicer and started our detox. We almost made the mistake of just diving off into juicing. Thankfully, we heeded Joe's advice and spent a week coming off of caffeine, sugar and meat. Then, the juice experimentation began. Fortunately, Ben is a whiz in the kitchen and came up with some REALLY tasty ones... which we will have on the truck, of course! Other documentaries we've watched that contributed to our awakening about food include:
Forks Over Knives
Food Matters
Food Inc
Farmageddon
GMO OMG
Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us? Vanishing of the Bees
Cowspiracy
That Sugar Film
Fed Up
Just Eat It
What the Health
The Game Changers
In one movie, they showed a heart surgery and the surgeon pulled a long bo**er of plaque from someone's artery. Meat... all the meat Ben has eaten for years and he's suffered from high blood pressure and high cholesterol. All that sugar and processed food causing chronic inflammation in his entire body, including the artery walls and subsequent plaque build up... it was enough. A switch got flipped. We weren't just doing a juice fast anymore... Our vegan lifestyle began. As the foodies we are, we LOVE experimenting in the kitchen and discovering new flavor combinations. Ben can follow a recipe and it turn out absolutely perfect. I have a knack for re-purposing left overs and combining random pantry/fridge items into delicious creations. Between the two of us, we fell in love with the vegan life. It was a new art medium and a challenge. :) We knew we wanted to have a vegan and GF food truck and were working on coming up with a signature item. One night we were experimenting with some falafel recipes and how it could be served. Ben put some falafel in a corn tortilla and said “it’s falafel, in a taco... it’s a FALACO.” And Falacos was born. Ben Weidner is my inspiration for Falacos, y'all. I couldn't believe the transformation that took place - Benny lost 70 pounds in only 4 months. At the beginning of December when we started juicing, he weighed 268. By the beginning of April, he was down to 198. Incredible! And this was with very little exercise - no gym, no mad workout routine, only some push ups every day. He was 70 pounds down, just from changing his lifestyle and how he eats. After a couple 5 day juice fasts, the routine became juice for breakfast, juice for lunch, snack of some nuts or hummus, a vegan dinner, lots of water all day long and no more processed food. This wasn't a phase or a diet - it was a life changer. Oh yeah, and he got off all his high blood pressure and cholesterol medications, too. :)
(**Update: As of July, 2015, Ben has maintained his weight at 195-200 lbs and his unmedicated blood pressure is now an amazing 110/70. A plant based diet healed his heart!)
As for me, I learned I am somewhat sensitive to gluten... too much, and I get low, kinda depressed. It always happened after beer or too much pasta. Ben’s dad was diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease so it made sense for us to start avoiding gluten in our recipes. I haven't had any red meat or foul since Thanksgiving 2013 and I don't plan on eating it ever again. Don't need it; don't even want it... especially now that I know where it comes from and how it's processed. I finally came to my own personal conclusion that if I don't have the balls to kill an animal myself, then I'm not gonna eat it. I want to have 100% complete transparency about myself and this business: Personally, I don't have a 100% vegan, GF, organic and non-GMO diet. I will admit, I still have my weaknesses. I know the risk I'm taking when I eat things like sugar or dairy or GMOs and I take full responsibility for my results. I consider my eating habits to be 100x better than they used to be. Foul and red meat are totally gone. I do still eat fish and shellfish on a rare occasion – and yes, I have and would kill them again myself to eat them. I would love to have a chicken coop and knowing they would be well fed and cared for, I would eat those eggs, too. I want people to know who I really am... I'm just a real person that woke up to my personal responsibility about what I put in my body and I want to help others by bringing them a healthier and hella tasty alternative. Falacos is a place where people can always find delicious food that is safe and non-GMO. Falacos promises to be honest and open about the food we serve, where it comes from and who you can call if you have questions. On our mobile app, we will have FULL disclosure about every single food item and ingredient on our truck. I want folks to have the answers they seek. All our produce suppliers, brands of GF flours, spices, etc, every resource will be made available to the public. I have nothing to hide and I want people to have access to every detail of information we can give them about the food we serve. I truly believe there is a shift happening in this country. People are wanting to know why we are all so sick in America, why there are such high rates of cancer and heart disease and diabetes... and we are finding out the answer was right there on our plates, this whole time. Falacos is the new world of fast food. Y’all get ready! We appreciate your questions and feedback. When you tell us how we can better serve you, we can get right on it. :)
