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'Military Moms' pink camo food truck survives reality show fame

Julia Botero
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WRVO News
The Military Moms Food Truck is now driving around Fort Drum and the surrounding area, selling hearty comfort food.

If you’re near Fort Drum around lunch time, you might notice a big pink food truck parked outside one of the base’s gates.  The Military Moms Food truck sells the kinds of meals mom used to make – like sloppy joes and grilled cheeses. And it’s kind of famous. The truck appeared last year on The Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race. Now, it’s back home serving comfort food to soldiers and fans.

Soldiers in uniforms line up outside a bright pink truck. As they order, they stand underneath fluffy white pom poms hanging from the truck’s awnings.   This is the Military Moms Food Truck.  On the menu today, something new, the Toe Popper cookie.

“A Toe Popper is actually an explosive device that would blow your toes off but this is just a flavor explosion in your mouth. You’re toes are safe,” Carol Rosenberg said.

Carol Rosenberg is a professional chef and owner of the business. She’s also an Army wife. Today she’s serving five sandwiches- the Private Jelly, the Sergeant Cheesy, the Full Bird and the Major Butts.

Credit Julia Botero / WRVO News
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WRVO News
Carol Rosenberg ( left) with her friend Michelle whom also stared in the Food Network's reality show competition.

“I had the name for the sandwich the Major Butts before I even had the truck because who doesn’t love braised pork butt. And being able to say hey, your butt’s up at the widow is just too fun,” Rosenberg said.

Being sassy and sweet like that is kind of Rosenberg’s thing. And it’s what got the attention of a reality show on the Food Network.

On the show, cooks with the dream of breaking into the food truck business compete for a brand new truck and 50 thousand dollars. Rosenberg said she first watched the show when her husband was stationed in Germany. She had just left her job as a personal chef.

“And I was like, 'Oh my God, that is what I have to do.'”

Rosenberg applied to be on the show along with two friends from Fort Drum. They made the cut.

The show designed their food truck and came up with the name, the Military Moms.  But in the third episode the moms were eliminated. When Carol got back to the North Country, she had to regroup. She bought her own truck and got ready to roll.

“I really lost a year being on the show but I’m not complaining. I gained 5,000 Facebook followers. That would take me 100 years to get,” Rosenberg said.

The Food Network let Rosenberg keep the truck name and its recognizable pink design. She says when she first got on the road in May people followed her home. They even leaned out of their cars to take photos. She says basically things have been crazy.

“Stop making fun of me you little turkey burglars!”

Credit Julia Botero/WRVO News
Carol's son, Cody and his friend Taylor Campbell, help serve food out of the truck.

Rosenberg’s 20-year old son Cody is teasing her from the other end of the truck. Despite her reality show fame, Rosenberg’s still a mom.  Her son and a friend are helping her with the lunch rush today. Cody says it was interesting to have his mom on reality TV.

“She tells the story constantly.  I could probably tell it better than she could at this point. I don’t know it was kind of weird to see her on TV because she’s terrible, ” Cody Rosenberg said.

One by one the sandwiches fly out the window. Leilani Guevara has just ordered lunch with her husband Joe, a soldier at Fort Drum.

“You guys are awesome. I was like ‘I know them. I saw them on TV!’ We were going to go to McDonald's and then I saw your truck and I told him, ‘Meet me here for lunch,’” Guevara said.

Rosenberg says fulfilling her dream to start up a food truck was hard and expensive, but she thinks operating a business on wheels makes sense for military spouses. Families like hers are constantly moving from base to base.

Credit Julia Botero / WRVO News
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WRVO News
The Charlie Foxtrot is an amped up Sloppy Joe made with ground pork and beef slathered in a homemade cheese sauce and topped with spicy pickles.

“Start a food truck. There’s no competition around them. And I’ve been on a lot of military bases. And why not military spouses or anyone who is a foodie? Start them near a military base,” Rosenberg said.

As for Rosenberg, her family will be staying put. Her husband is retiring from the Army and settling here, in the North Country. When the weather’s good, The Military Moms Food Truck will be out, proudly serving comfort food.