About the Truck

Every good food truck starts with a dream, a little stubbornness, and someone willing to just go get it done, and that's exactly how Mama T's Rollin' Snack Shack came to life.

It all started with owners Alena "Lena" Carson and her partner, Prentiss Carter, doing what a lot of folks do on a lazy evening: watching cooking show after cooking show and dreaming out loud about running their own food truck. Lena kept an eye out, and one day, a truck for sale popped up right in Marion, North Carolina. She went and looked at it, called the bank to see what her credit could do, and came home the proud new owner of a fully outfitted food truck, sinks, refrigerator, grills, fryers and all. Then came the phone call to Prentiss: "Guess what I did today? I got us a food truck." He didn't believe her at first. Neither of them had a name, a menu, or a clue what came next. They just had the truck.

The name came together the way the best family things do: a little bit of everybody. Prentiss wanted to call it "Boomerang," because good food comes back to you, just like a boomerang. Around the same time, Lena got to thinking about her grandmother, affectionately known as Mama T. But Mama T was never meant to represent just one person; she stands in for every mama and grandmama who shaped the way this family cooks: Mama T, Gladys, Ida Jean, and Dorothy (or Dortha, though most people just called her Dot). All of them, rolled into one name. As it turned out, the truck already had "Rolling Snack Shack" painted across the top when they bought it, so the pieces clicked into place: Mama T's Rollin' Snack Shack, the food that brings you back.

Even the logo has a story. Lena spotted a piece of art at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, a long-faced woman in hair rollers, blue-skinned, dark-haired, cigarette in hand, and knew she wanted something in that same spirit for the truck. Her sister-in-law Connie, who can really draw, took on the job with one condition: no cigarette. She put a fork in the woman's hand instead. That fork-wielding lady has been the face of Mama T's ever since.

Before livermush ever entered the picture, Mama T's soft opening menu was built on a fried bologna sandwich, a direct tribute to Perkins Grocery on the Burke County side, where everybody grew up buying bologna sandwiches from a man named Frank Perkins. Frank would open his store in the middle of the night if a neighbor ran out of gas or oil, and he ran a tab for anyone who couldn't pay that day. When Frank passed away and the store closed, the community lost more than a grocery; it lost a heartbeat. Lena and Prentiss brought a piece of it back with Mama T's Bologna Sandwich (grilled onions, tomato, mayo, and cheese) and, later, Mama T's Southern Bologna Sandwich, dressed up with coleslaw, pickled onions, and honey mustard.

Then came livermush, a Southern Appalachian tradition with roots going back to 18th-century German settlers, and a dish Lena and her family grew up eating without ever thinking twice about it. When the Marion Livermush Festival came calling, the whole family got in the kitchen. Every dish starts the same way: a lot of brainstorming, a little arguing, and a taste-test crew made up of neighbors, cousins, and whoever happens to be walking down the street at the right time. Nobody in this family sugarcoats a bad batch; if it needs more salt, they'll tell you.

That process has produced some of Mama T's most-loved creations:

• Saul's Pig Pen, named for Lena's nephew, Saul, who suggested "smothering it": jalapeño cheese grits topped with deep-fried livermush and sausage gravy, finished with fresh tomato and green onion, served alongside Texas toast.

• Mama's Junk and Stuff, deep-fried livermush piled with cream cheese, a house blend of pepper jellies gathered from family and friends, and extra-crispy bacon bits, named after Lena's mama's favorite catchall phrase for "a little bit of everything."

Cooking without a recipe runs deep in this family. Lena's grandmother, Mama T, never measured a thing, and neither did Prentiss's grandmother, Gladys; both women could make a dish taste like nothing else in the world and never quite explain how. Lena learned the same way, standing in the kitchen as the oldest kid while her mother worked, called in to help finish whatever project had been started that day. Her brother Eric went on to cook as a chef in the military; her sister still cooks right alongside her, and her brother Nakia is always ready to taste-test when needed.

Lena's mama was Mama T's biggest cheerleader from day one; she's the one who told Lena to get that food truck, no hesitation. She passed away, and her memory is stitched into every dish the truck serves, from the bologna sandwich that started it all to whatever gets dreamed up for next year's festival.

Before all of this, Lena served her country in the U.S. Navy, enlisting in 1989 as one of the first women ever stationed aboard a Navy ship, one of just 13 women in a crew of roughly 300 to 350. She trained as a diesel mechanic in Chicago and kept the generators running aboard an ammunition ship through Desert Shield and Desert Storm. That same grit, showing up, figuring it out, and getting the job done, is exactly what built this food truck from the ground up.

Mama T's Rollin' Snack Shack is proud to be a five-time winner of the Marion Livermush Festival's coveted Livermush Master title, earning the crowd-favorite award for its creative, crave-worthy livermush dishes every year from 2022 through 2026. This remarkable five-year streak reflects the passion, Southern flavor, and playful spirit Mama T's brings to every plate. From longtime livermush fans to first-time festival guests, the community has made Mama T's a favorite by voting for dishes that celebrate a beloved regional tradition while giving it a fresh, unforgettable food-truck twist.

It really does take a village, and Mama T's has always leaned on one. Family, neighbors, friends who follow the truck from event to event, and a community that shows up hungry and stays for the stories. So come find us, grab a plate, and taste why they keep coming back.

Mama T's Rollin' Snack Shack, the food that brings you back.