Cartopia: Portland's Food Cart Revolution

Cartopia: Portland's Food Cart Revolution documents - through stories and photography - how the perfect storm of Portland's independent culture, artisan economy, and "foodie" scene created the food cart revolution. Portland has over 500 food carts, some clustered into "pods" in parking lots and others staking their solitary claim on the sidewalk. Artisanal, quirky, independent, and an exceptional value, these food carts are the perfect symbol of what Portland is all about. As authors Kelly Rodgers and Kelley Roy explore the factors that have placed Portland in the street-food spotlight, they also document the personality and character of the Portland carts, and by extension, Portland itself. Portland has over 500 food carts, some clustered into "pods" in parking lots and others staking their solitary claim on the sidewalk. Artisanal, quirky, independent, and an exceptional value, these food carts are the perfect symbol of what Portland is all about. As authors Kelly Rodgers and Kelley Roy explore the factors that have placed Portland in the street food spotlight, they also document the personality and character of the Portland carts, and by extension, Portland itself. With photography by Andrew Burdick, Cartopia is a visual feast and celebration of food, architecture, creative entrepreneurship, and civic spirit. "There are, of course, lots of ... factors fertilizing Portland's food cart flowering," says Randy Gragg, Editor-in-Chief of Portland Monthly magazine. "And in their book Cartopia: Portland's Food Cart Revolution, Kelley Roy and Kelly Rodgers have discovered just about all of them, from the rise of Portland's increasingly internationally-renowned food movement to the normally rule-happy city regulators' surprising ambivalence about the carts. But the beauty of this book... is that they not only explain the 'why' of food carts, but, indirectly, the larger 'why' of Portland."