Kosher Food Truck Is a Story About Resilience After Loss

Watch: After the loss of his brother, Zack Freeling went to speak with Chabad Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein at Vanderbilt University. It led to the creation of one of the first kosher food trucks on a college campus. Full Story, Video

May 1, 2020 – 7 Iyyar 5780

By COLlive reporter

Aryeh’s Kitchen serves kosher deli sandwiches, braised and smoked brisket, grilled shwarma and spiced hot apple cider out of a 1971 custom-built Airstream RV at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The story behind it is even more unlikely.

It began in the summer of 2016 when three men met with a mutual vision of bringing delicious, southern-style Kosher food to Vanderbilt, a private research university with a Jewish population of 1,000 students, or about 15% of the undergraduate population.

Ken Freeling, his son Zack Freeling (then a student at Vanderbilt), and Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein, Director of Chabad Jewish Student Center at Vanderbilt, went on to found Aryeh’s Kitchen. The truck was named Aryeh’s Kitchen after Zack’s Jewish name.

After being closed temporarily, Zack concocted a plan to bring the truck back to life and revitalize the brand. With a plan in motion, the Freelings donated a trailer to Chabad. Zack worked closely with Rabbi Rothstein over the next six months developing a new model for the business.

Chabad at Vanderbilt then brought in Rabbi Gavriel Isenberg to serve as the truck’s new manager. He moved to Nashville with his family in August 2017, working with Freeling and Rabbi Rothstein to restart the food truck under the auspices of Chabad.

As the hands-on manager, he hit the ground running and has devoted countless hours to bring the truck back. When it reopened, it was a tribute to the Freeling family after the passing of Zack’s father and brother.

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