A Paraguayan food truck helps a Howard County resident stay connected to home

When Lourdes Karina Pinto first came to the United States from her home country of Paraguay, she was homesick and alone. Not being able to find Paraguayan dishes anywhere, Pinto began to cook her favorites to feel connected to home.

Twenty-six years later, Pinto, a North Laurel resident, is sharing some of those dishes with the Howard County community and beyond via her food truck, Tasty Empanadas. Her menu features several empanada fillings, yuca fries and churros.

She runs the truck with her husband, Ricardo. Her children help out when they can. Pinto posts a weekly schedule of where the truck will be on social media. To spot the truck out and about, look for a black-wrapped trailer hitched to a pickup truck, with the phrase “Taste of Paraguay” across the top. And of course the name, Tasty Empanadas.

Inspiration for selling her food came when her children started attending elementary school more than a decade ago. Whenever she prepared Paraguayan dishes for International Nights, she received endless compliments and encouragement to take the next step. Knowing how hard and demanding it is to work in a kitchen, Pinto did not begin selling her dishes until her children were in high school.

She made the jump to a food stand in 2018, securing a spot at The Common Kitchen, a food hall in Clarksville. Pinto decided to take the business fully mobile in 2023 with a food truck.

“If I’m not doing it now, then when? We opened in 2018, we survived the pandemic, and now in the third year with the food truck, the demand is a lot higher,” Pinto said.

“We have a lot of loyal customers, some since day one,” Pinto added. “I’m grateful and thankful. The community supports us very well.”

Despite the blistering heat at the most recent Savage Farmers Market, where Pinto sometimes parks her truck, Tasty Empanadas already had a small line forming as it opened for business at 4 p.m.

The food truck was the only reason Nichole Hetzer, of Laurel, left her house that hot afternoon.

“I came for them,” Hetzer said as she waited for her order. “I don’t venture out in 100-degree weather for much, but I do for empanadas.”

Hetzer has followed Pinto’s truck for years. While Hetzer said it’s hard to pick a favorite filling, she decided on chicken.

The regular empanada fillings are chicken, beef, black beans, cheese and spinach. Each week there is a sixth rotating special filling, including corn and cheese, mushroom, beef Paraguayan, sausage, ham and cheese, hard-boiled eggs and cheese, and sweet beef — which is beef filled with raisins and olives. Carnitas was the special filling at the Wednesday farmers market.

Pinto said the beef Paraguayan, an empanada featuring hard-boiled eggs, “is the most popular empanada back home.”

She also makes chipa, a Paraguayan cheesy bread, and chipa guasu, a Paraguayan corn-and-cheese casserole. Sweet treats include apple-filled empanadas and pastafrola, a shortcrust pastry pie that Pinto fills with guava jam.

Before Pinto branched out with the food truck, she partnered with local breweries that sold her food while she worked at The Common Kitchen. As she thought about growth, she set her sights on a food truck because it would give her more freedom to move around the area and make connections.

Pinto’s passion for cooking comes from watching her mother and grandmother make Paraguayan dishes when she was a young child. When she serves customers, she hopes that they will learn about Paraguayan culture, traditions, and, of course, the food.

Customers sometimes ask Pinto where Paraguay is, and she’s happy to chat with them about her native country. She tries to tell them a bit about Paraguay’s history and customs.

“I miss home, I’m not going to lie, but I love to share my tradition and my culture with the community,” Pinto said.