Editor's note: This article was excerpted from our Food Truck startup guide, available from the Entrepreneur Bookstore.

Today, a new generation of street-food lovers is lining up at food trucks and food carts like never before. Little do they know that neither food trucks nor food carts are new to the streets of American cities. Like so many other popular trends, they are the latest version of a long-standing part of American and world culture. Yet the street-food industry has nev...