Raza Central, the colourful food truck that Sydney has grown to know and love is more than just a place to get your pupusa (if you don’t know what these are Google them now) fix. It’s a symbol of hope for more Latin American representation in Australia.

Tony and his wife, began their journey to bring Raza Central to life in 2015. Tony migrated to Australia from El Salvador in 1989 and since then has called the Western Suburbs of Sydney home (a hub for Latin American’s since the 1970s).

The motivation behind Raza Central was to share an authentic representation of El Salvador in Australia. Tony feels strongly about changing the narrative of what we know El Salvador to be. You can hear the passion in Tony’s voice when he speaks about his homeland, “My country is more than war and gangs. Yeah, my country has had a lot of hard times, but it’s not like that every day and, it won’t be like that forever.”

Since 2015, Raza Central has fed people at over 800 events throughout NSW. Their iconic truck, covered with a beautiful Salvadoran design is not only recognisable for being bright and colourful but for the delicious food that keeps coming out of it. “We put a lot of love into what we dish out and, that’s why we’ve survived this long” and, that care and quality are what has makes Raza Central a standout in the Sydney food truck scene.

However, Tony has bigger dreams and, those dreams saw Raza Central open a restaurant at Mounties club in Mt Prichard that was a huge success. Tony recently decided to opt-out of operating out of Mounties and search for a more family-friendly environment to open a new restaurant very soon. He expects to open a space where Salvadorian’s bright culture is celebrated and enjoyed by all who visit. Tony’s ethos for his current food truck and future restaurant is that “Raza Central is about the Latin community in general”.

Tony is a true representation of the multifaceted communities that he belongs to; the Salvadoran, Latin American and Western Sydney communities. In the past five years, he has brought Salvadoran food to the forefront of diverse Australian cuisine all with the hope of having authentic Latin American representation.

Tony praises everyone that helped Raza Central get off the ground and running, “I couldn’t have done it myself, my wife, staff, family and community have gotten me to where I am now”.

I can confidently say I know I’m not the only one looking forward to seeing Raza Central’s restaurant open very soon!

You can find Raza Central on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RazaCentral and on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razacentral/

Book Raza Central for you next event here: arazacentral@gmail.com

Written by Aimee Flores
Photos by Aimee Flores