The sun blazed down on attendees as their mouths watered in anticipation to participate in one of the nation’s largest food truck competitions, Battledish.

On Saturday, Battledish placed 15 local food truck chefs against each other, challenging them to create a dish that embraced their personal style, but not something on their regular menu. They took tasters around the world through a variety of plates. The meals represented cultures through dishes such as curry, sushi, barbeque and tamales.

Attendees were instructed to vote for five different categories: “Most Creative,” “Most Delicious,” “Most Authentic,” “Most Modern,” and “Best Cocktail.” This past weekend, there were 11 Battledish competitions happening in North American cities simultaneously, said Tracey Lee, CEO and founder of Dishcrawl.

The winners from the five categories will go on to compete against other winners from cities across the nation. Within the following week, the food truck with the most votes will be crowned “King of Battledish” within each category. The winners of the competitions will receive a trophy, plaque and bragging rights.

“All of these food trucks are involved in all kinds of gatherings that happen across the city and across the Bay Area two to three times a week,” said Jenny Gutierrez, Dishcrawl ambassador. “But this is something different where they actually have to come up with dishes they don’t normally serve and compete against each other and against people across the country.”

Dishcrawl, an organization that originated in San Jose and has recently expanded nationwide, hosted the event. Dishcrawl provides the community with dining experiences through locally produced cultural food either by hosting Battledish events or progressive dinner events where food lovers are personally guided through three to four restaurants in one night. The organization is located in 125 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“We are inspired by the idea of new dishes and also just being part of a huge international competition,” Lee said. “It’s really based on favorites, who is new and who’s willing to try new things.”

Tina of Tina’s Tamales, a truck participating in San Mateo’s Battledish competition, shared an example of how the food truck industry has helped her expand and raise sales for her family’s business.

“I’m a third generation tamale girl,” she told The Pioneer. “Three years ago I decided to go mobile, apart from my family’s business. My family laughed at me and said ‘La Chiquita wants to go sell tamales on the street, how silly.’ So here we are; flash forward three years later and I account for about 30 percent of the sales for the restaurant; making mobile food and catering.”

Her grandmother founded the restaurant, located at the intersection of 7th and Jackson in Oakland, in 1944. The neighborhood was where her mother was born and raised.

Tina’s Tamales’ dishes still include tamales that were cooked the old fashioned way, with corn cooked on the site and grated in a stone grinder.

“It’s just like Fred Flinstone,” she said. “It’s two little wheels that rub together and grind the corn.”

The corn is then used to make 60 different varieties of tamales including the traditional pork, chicken, vegetarian cheese and vegan potato and green bean.

“We just thought it was more of the upcoming thing that’s happening in today’s generation,” said Neha Pabla, from Got Curry, another food truck that is participating in the competition. “Nobody really likes to sit and dine unless it’s the weekend or you’re with a date or something. This is more fun, you get to make your own schedule, see different people, and see different faces and different atmospheres.”

Pabla’s husband owns a restaurant in Fremont, where the truck gains ideas for items to put on their menu. Entrees consist of a fusion between Indian and Mexican food. Pabla explained that this means they use Italian spices and Indian marinated chicken but serves it in tortillas.

Got Curry’s special at Battledish was their curry bowl and chili tacos. They also created a new item for the event called Chili Kabobs, which consisted of pieces of chicken dipped in chili sauce placed on a stick.

Local and nationwide results from the competition are posted online at dishcrawl.com. Andres Meraz from the Dilido Beach Club won the “Most Delicious” dish nationwide while Chef Naked Chorizo won the category in San Mateo with his Chorizo Tacos.

Chef Jonathan Spanton from The Burg won the “Most Creative” dish nationwide with his Mac N’ Cheese Balls while Chef Waffle Amore won in San Mateo for his Pizza Waffle.

Chef Jamie Mullens-Brooks and Brian Brooks from Hunger won the “Most Modern” dish nationwide with their Stuffed Dates, and for San Mateo We Sushi won this category with their Lobster Tacos.

Andre Grosz from Wild Flower won the “Most Authentic” category with his Wild Flower Rib-eye Steak while Tina Tamale in San Mateo won with her Pork Pibil Tamale.

Ulah Bistro won the event’s “Best Cocktail” award with their French tea and VeeV won in San Mateo with their Vita Frute Margarita.