Meatbawl’s Food Truck prepares for Gulf Coast Music & Food Truck Fest

Meatbawl's Food Truck prepares for Gulf Coast Music & Food Truck Fest Shatanya Clarke tells us about her food truck's story and which delicious foods you can expect at this weekend's festival. (wlox)

By Flora Dedeaux

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Jerk chicken tacos, jerk chicken nachos, jerk chicken loaded fries, traditional jerk chicken, oxtails...

If all this is making your mouth water, you’ll want to check out Meatbawl’s Food Truck at this weekend’s Gulf Coast Music & Food Truck Fest.

Meatbawl’s is just one of the 20 food trucks that will be taking to Jones Park Saturday for the fest. The truck’s owner and chef Shatanya Clarke talked with WLOX Friday about how excited she is about the event and just how much work she and her husband have put into the food truck over the years.

Her vision for bringing delicious, authentic Jamaican food to South Mississippi started when she and her husband decided to build their food truck from the ground up.

“I had to be honest with myself. I couldn’t afford to buy a big food truck, so I built my own,” Clarke said. “It’s been really cool. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned from my community. A lot of people have come out to help us, so with my husband’s help- I promise you, he’s the muscles of this- we’ve really built all of this.”

Clarke says she herself isn’t Jamaican, but she’s been in a Jamaican family for 20 years. She learned how to cook from her mother-in-law.

“I tell people all the time: I’m not a chef, I’m a story teller. I don’t change any of the recipes,” Clarke said. “My mother-in-law taught me how to do it. I do it just the way she taught me.”

Come visit Clarke, stop at the other food trucks, enjoy great live music, buy from community vendors, and so much more at the Inaugural Gulf Coast Music & Food Truck Fest. The fest takes place Saturday, July 23, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Barksdale Pavilion in Jones Park.

General admission tickets are $10, and VIP tickets, which include reserved seating and free, non-alcoholic drinks, are $20. Children ages 10 and under can attend free. Tickets and more information are available on the fest’s website.

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Copyright 2022 WLOX. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2022 WLOX. All rights reserved.

Flora Dedeaux

Flora Dedeaux

Flora Dedeaux was born and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi. She graduated from Mississippi State in 2022 with a communication degree, concentrating in broadcast and public relations and minoring in marketing.