2023

Despite being progressive, outdoorsy, and health-conscious, the Wood River Valley is not home to many plant-based options.

However, Sloan Storey, the owner and founder of The Wylde Beet food truck, hopes to change that by providing delicious, affordable plantbased food to the community she grew up in. Since opening in January of this year with a 100% plantbased menu, The Wylde Beet has made converts of many who visited the truck at its home in the Hailey Sturtevants’ parking lot.

Growing up in the Wood River Valley instilled a love for the outdoors in Storey from an early age. At the same time, her mostly vegetarian diet forced her to learn to cook plant-based meals at home.

“Every restaurant here had one choice, and that’s what I got and never expected anything else,” says Storey. “Then I started traveling and realized how creative vegetarian and vegan food can be.”

The ski racer eventually went to college at the University of Utah in Salt Lake, earning health education and community development degrees. After graduating in 2016, she spent a few years traveling in Spain and New Zealand with the WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) network, which she credits with really opening her eyes to the ease of a plant-based lifestyle and motivating her to switch to becoming completely vegan.

After returning to the Wood River Valley in 2017, Storey eventually found work at the Hunger Coalition, another influential experience where she witnessed the power of good food, particularly in her work with the Bloom truck, a free summer lunch program that brings healthy sack lunches to children throughout Blaine County.

“I was making hundreds of lunches a day and really seeing what you could do with a small space.” During her time on the Bloom food truck, Storey began experimenting with incorporating more plant-based items and meals into the kids’ lunches, expanding their tastebuds from the usual cafeteria food they ate during the school year.