Selling shrimp caught in the Gulf Mexico was a full-time job for Peggy Harris when she was a vendor on the second floor of Valley International Airport in Harlingen. Called Texashrimp, the business on the south side of the boarding area was easily seen by passengers wanting to take some fresh shrimp with them.

After eight years, she sold the venture and embarked on a new and different type of enterprise – cooking. She installed a commercial kitchen in her home in the small community of Lozano, a U.S. Census-designated place of about 400 residents east of Harlingen.

Harris said her home kitchen, where she prepares dozens of food types, some gluten free and others without any artificial dyes, is certified by both the state of Texas and Cameron County.

“I got into this partly because of my autistic son,” she said of her 14-year-old teenager. “He is allergic to some 62 foods.” Unable to find very many products in the Rio Grande Valley to meet her son’s dietary needs, Harris would travel as far as San Antonio to buy gluten-free foods.

“So I began cooking meals, baking breads and canning vegetables in the most healthy ways I could possibly do,” she said. “After that, I went commercial.” Operating under the name Peggy’s Cakes and More, Harris prepares gluten-free cakes and breads as well as canned vegetables, relishes and sauces. She is a certified master cake decorator and provides catering services for special events and office parties.

Harris served her home-cooked appetizers during a fundraiser at the Brownsville Historical Museum last year and was hired to return again this year in March. She was also the first vendor to serve food at the Willacy County Livestock Show’s Champion Sale held in February, and was hired for next year. In previous years, all the food served there was brought by volunteers, but this year the board of directors took a different approach and it was well received.

An interesting aspect of Harris’ business is the way she conducts it. She was probably one of the first food truck vendors in the Rio Grande Valley. Harris drives a delivery-turned-meals-on wheels truck a brother-in-law gave her more than two years ago.

“He told me one day I was doing too much work,” she said, referring to the routine of setting a tent up, tables and everything needed for a special event. “I told him I was interested in buying a truck to go to places.”

One day, the brother-in-law showed up with a truck and an offer to transfer the vehicle’s title over to her. “I asked him, how much he wanted for it,” Harris said, “He said, ‘It’s all yours.’” Harris now drives the truck everywhere she conducts business. She is a regular at farmers markets in Harlingen, South Padre Island and Rancho Viejo. She also gets hired for office parties and other events about twice a month.

On a recent Sunday at the Island’s farmers market, consumers flocked to her truck filled to the brim with specially crafted goodies. “Have you tried her breads?” one of them said. “They are just delicious.”

John Stilp, a Winter Texas from Wisconsin, said he never leaves the market without buying something from Harris’ truck. “I have bought breads, vegetables, sauces, you name it,” he said while holding a large coconut cream pie Harris handed down to him. “It cost $20, but let me tell you, it’s worth every penny.”

Harris said she has been taking cooking and cake decoration classes but adds she learned to cook pretty much on her own. Perhaps part of that can be attributed to her family background. Harris comes from clan of gulf shrimpers who at one time owned a fleet of trawlers at the Brownsville Shrimp Basin. The company, called Harris Seafood, is no longer in operation.

“But I have been doing this myself for more than eight years,” she said. “I can prepare just about anything a client wants. I named my business Peggy’s Cake and More, but the More kind of got out of hand as I am doing more and more today.”