The New York Times profiles a fascinating trend of the food truck invading Paris, France. Whereas the general notion is that American food consists of large portions and greasy food, in Paris:

…American food is suddenly being seen as more than just restauration rapide. Among young Parisians, there is currently no greater praise for cuisine than “très Brooklyn,” a term that signifies a particularly cool combination of informality, creativity and quality.

All three of those traits come together in the American food trucks that have just opened here, including Cantine California, which sells tacos stuffed with organic meat (still a rarity in France), and a hugely popular burger truck called Le Camion Qui Fume (The Smoking Truck), owned by Kristin Frederick, a California native who graduated from culinary school here.

Kristin Frederick, the owner, received pushback before opening:

“I got every kind of push-back… People said: ‘The French will never eat on the street. The French will never eat with their hands. They will never pay good money for food from a truck.’ ” (Her burger with fries costs 10 euros, about $13.)

So how well is the truck doing?

Since the truck’s opening day, Ms. Frederick said, it has sold every last burger on every shift. And it has received the kind of publicity most chefs can only dream about. Its first weeks were covered obsessively on the many English-language blogs — Hip Paris, David Lebovitz, Paris by Mouth and Lost in Cheeseland — that chronicle the food scene here.

Read the entire story here.