Enchanted Farms Customer Highlight: Alton Chen of American Chinese Food Truck

We first met Alton Chen when he attended the Fermentation & Fungi Fest Adult Night at Explora late last year. Alton was inquisitive about growing mushrooms and considers himself an amateur Mycologist. 

In addition to  mushrooms, Alton's passion lies in cooking delicious American Chinese cuisine out of his food truck, American Chinese. Alton and his family are nothing new to the Albuquerque food scene with notable local favorite eateries such as Al's Big Dipper in the Downtown library and Chen's Chinese Restaurant. Alton regularly drops by the farm to see what's new, talk mushroom shop, and of course, pick-up mushrooms for his food truck special, the Oyster medley.

Alton shared that his 2025 Chinese New Year traditions Include a reunion dinner which is a large feast with family. Each person exchanges red envelopes with money inside them. The elderly give children red envelopes, also known as lucky money, after the reunion dinner.  Ancestor worship is included where people offer sacrifices to their ancestors on Chinese New Year's Eve as a sign of respect.  The dragon and lion dances  symbolizes luck and happiness, while dragons symbolize power and bravery. This celebration is a week long instead of a traditional one day. People take off and spend time with their loved ones and celebrate the year.