Street food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold in a street or other public place, such as a market or fair, by a
hawker or vendorA hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with peddler or costermonger. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells items or food that are native to the area...
, often from a portable
stallA market stall is a typically immobile, temporary structure erected by merchants to display and shelter their merchandise in a street market or other setting. Stalls are easily erected, taken down or simply moved on wheels...
. While some street foods are regional, many are not, having spread beyond their region of origin. Most street food are both
fingerFinger food is food meant to be eaten directly using the hands, in contrast to food eaten with a knife and fork, chopsticks, or other utensils. In some cultures, food is almost always eaten with the hands; for example, Ethiopian cuisine is eaten by rolling various dishes up in injera bread. In the...
and
fast foodFast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
. Street food costs less than a restaurant meal. According to the
Food and Agriculture OrganizationThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
, 2.5 billion people eat street food every day.
Street food is intimately connected with
take-outTake-out or takeout , carry-out , take-away , parcel , or tapau , is food purchased at a...
,
junk foodJunk food is an informal term applied to some foods that are perceived to have little or no nutritional value ; to products with nutritional value, but which also have ingredients considered unhealthy when regularly eaten; or to those considered unhealthy to consume at all...
,
snackA snack is a small portion of food eaten between meals. The food might be snack food—items like potato chips or baby carrots—but could also simply be a smaller amount of any food item.-Snacks and health:...
s, and fast food; it is distinguished by its local flavour and by being purchased on the street, without entering any building. Both take-out and fast food are often sold from counters inside buildings.
Health and safety
Concerns of
cleanlinessCleanliness is both the abstract state of being clean and free from dirt, and the process of achieving and maintaining that state.Cleanliness may be endowed with a moral quality, as indicated by the aphorism "cleanliness is next to godliness," and may be regarded as contributing to other ideals...
and freshness often discourage people from eating street food. With the increasing pace of globalization and tourism, the safety of street food has become one of the major concerns of
public healthPublic health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
, and a focus for governments and scientists to raise public awarenesses. In the United Kingdom, the
FSAThe Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food throughout the United Kingdom and is led by a board appointed to act in the public interest...
provides comprehensive guidances of
food safetyFood safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards....
for the vendors, traders and retailers of the street food sector. Other effective ways of enhancing the safety of street foods are through
mystery shoppingMystery shopping or a mystery consumer is a tool used externally by market research companies or watchdog organizations or internally by companies themselves to measure quality of service or compliance to regulation, or to gather specific information about products and services...
programs, through training and rewarding programs to vendors, through regulatory governing and membership management programs, or through technical testing programs.
See also
- Catering
Catering is the business of providing foodservice at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, public house , or other location.-Mobile catering:A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle or cart that is designed for the purpose...
- Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
- Food booth
A food booth is generally a temporary structure used to prepare and sell food to the general public, usually where large groups of people are situated outdoors in a park, at a parade, near a stadium or otherwise...
- Food cart
A food cart is a mobile kitchen that is set up on the street to facilitate the sale and marketing of street food to people from the local pedestrian traffic. Food carts are often found in large cities throughout the world and can be found selling food of just about any variety.Food carts come in...
- Kebab van
A kebab van is a van selling kebabs, usually döner kebabs, on the street, normally in cities and towns for the passing trade. They are often open in the evening and late at night after other places to eat have closed....
- List of snack foods
- Snack food
A snack is a portion of food oftentimes smaller than that of a regular meal, that is generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fresh ingredients at home....
- Street market
A street market is an outdoor market such as traditionally held in a market square or in a market town, and often held only on particular days of the week...