A Southland food truck selling food aligned with the popular ‘Keto” diet is proving to be a huge success.
Cooking Keto opened last month and is run by Amanda Watson, who said she had been overwhelmed by the response to date.
“It’s been amazing. So exciting. It’s been pretty full on the last couple of weeks because you didn’t know what to expect either. You’re walking into the unexpected.”
Keto food is designed for people on the ketogenic diet that has participants reducing their daily carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat. The carb reduction aims to put a person into a metabolic state called ketosis, allowing the body to burn fat for energy.
It also turns fat into ketones in the liver, with studies showing it can cause reductions in blood sugar, insulin levels, and significant weight loss.
Mrs Watson said she had started making Keto products for sale online, before bringing them to the local farmers market on a Sunday. Once this proved popular she decided to start the food truck.
People had come from as far away as Dunedin and Queenstown to try the food she said, with people often making requests for her to franchise the business into other areas where there are limited Keto options.
The food had also proved popular with non-Keto people.
“We have kids come up to us the farmers market and they’ll say that was really good. And how often do you see kids do that with food with no sugar in it?” she said.
The van operates Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on Gala Street outside Queens Park.
This article was originally written for The Advocate. You can read the published version here