Ep 5. Small Town Trouble

The Great Food Truck Race season 1 episode 5, "Small Town Trouble," takes the remaining four food truck teams to a small town in Iowa. The episode begins with a quick fire challenge where the trucks have to incorporate popcorn, a staple crop in Iowa, into their dishes. The challenge winner gets an advantage in the main challenge, which is to create a dish using a local specialty ingredient: sweet corn.

The teams are given a limited budget to shop for their ingredients and must also deal with the challenge of cooking in a town that doesn't have traditional food truck stops. They must set up in parking lots and other public areas, which poses a challenge as they try to attract customers who may not be familiar with food trucks.

One team is especially affected by the unique circumstances of this episode. The team, who typically serves Korean fusion cuisine, struggles to incorporate sweet corn into their dishes and attract customers in the small town. They end up relying on their signature tacos, which they know will be a hit, but this decision ends up costing them in the final judging.

Another team takes advantage of the local specialty by creating a grilled corn dish that wins over customers and the judges. They also use their popcorn dish from the quick fire challenge in a unique way that creates buzz and garners attention from passersby.

As the teams try to make the most out of the small town market, tensions rise when one team accuses another of cheating. This argument threatens to derail the teams' focus on the task of cooking and selling food, and the host, Tyler Florence, is forced to intervene to keep the competition fair.

In the end, the team with the most successful dishes and highest sales is crowned the winner. The team that struggled with the local ingredients and relied too heavily on their signature dish is eliminated from the competition.

Overall, "Small Town Trouble" presents unique challenges for the food truck teams, forcing them to adapt to a new setting and work with new ingredients. The episode also highlights the importance of creativity and thinking outside the box in the food truck industry.