Connecting through food
What matters most to Fu, however, is the connection she builds with her customers.
Her first outing, in August 2025, featured just three items: roujiamo (a Chinese meat sandwich), Sichuan cold noodles, and bubble tea.
"The first time, everything felt uncertain," she said. "I chose these dishes because they're approachable for people unfamiliar with Chinese food."
To her surprise, the food quickly drew a following — and with it came a stream of fascinating encounters. She recalls chatting with an elderly French man who shared stories of traveling through China and tasting Pu'er tea in Yunnan.
"It's a magical experience," Fu said."Each person who stops by may cross my path only once in a lifetime, yet through conversation, I uncover their stories — sometimes even ones that connect back to my homeland."
Over the past year, she has also built a loyal customer base. One particularly memorable visitor, a woman from Poland, surprised Fu by reading the word jianbing in Chinese.
"I love watching Asian street food videos on YouTube," the woman explained. She even brought up Dongpo pork, noting that the famous dish was named after the Song Dynasty (960-1279) poet Su Shi (also known as Su Dongpo).
"I could feel how genuinely curious she was about Chinese cuisine," Fu said.
Encounters like this have reinforced Fu's commitment to authenticity. She refuses to compromise on taste to suit local preferences.
"Many Chinese restaurants abroad tend to rely on sweet-and-sour or heavily sauced dishes, avoiding ingredients that international diners might not recognize," she said. "But that's not what I want."
To keep her offerings dynamic, Fu rotates her menu around themes inspired by different regions of China, pairing each with signature dishes, interactive challenges, and small cultural gifts.
For a Sichuan-themed event, for example, she created a "peppercorn challenge", where diners competed to see who could tolerate the most intense numbing-spicy sensation from Sichuan peppercorns. Winners received a panda toy capable of performing bianlian, or face-changing — a traditional Sichuan Opera art.
For Guangdong-themed events, she gives out lion dance figurines, and for Guizhou, miniature Miao-style headdresses as magnets.
"Through these small items, diners experience not just the food but also the culture behind it," Fu explained.
Fu's dedication has not gone unnoticed. Last year, in celebration of the 75th anniversary of China-Finland diplomatic relations, the Finnish Embassy in Beijing awarded her a certificate recognizing her contributions to cultural exchange.
The embassy also hosted a special culinary event for Fu, her Finnish family, and her fans.
Looking ahead, Fu plans to study traditional Suzhou-style pastries and learn the art of sugar painting in Sichuan, with the goal of bringing even more culturally rich treats to food lovers worldwide.
"My food truck is a small window into Chinese cuisine. Through it, people can discover dishes they might never encounter otherwise and connect with the depth and diversity of China's culinary heritage," she said.
