Street food
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Image:Helsinki TexMex stand.jpg Street food is food obtainable from a street-corner vendor, typically from a make shift or portable stall. While most street foods are regional, many are not, having spread beyond their region of origin. Most street food is both finger and fast food. Food is typically available on the street for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant meal. Therefore, a large portion can be eaten for a low price.
Concerns of cleanliness and freshness often discourage people from eating street food. Lack of refrigeration is often construed as a lack of cleanliness or hygiene; on the other hand, street food often uses particularly fresh ingredients for this very reason. In Asian street food, the high levels of heat required for wok cooking ensures that any bacteria are killed.
Street food is intimately connected with take-out, junk food, snacks, and fast food; it is distinguished by its local flavor and by being purchased on the sidewalk, without entering any building. Both take-out and fast food are typically sold from counters inside buildings. Increasingly the line is blurred, as restaurants such as McDonald's begin to offer window counters.
Street food is described below by region; only common street foods are discussed.
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[edit] Africa
[edit] South Africa
In South Africa, boerewors and other braai food are commonly available in the street. In the townships, various ethnic foods are available.
[edit] Asia
Fried rice and various noodle dishes are popular throughout China and Southeast Asia. Street eaters in those parts also enjoy various jicama salads. In general, all sorts of prepared foods are available in Asian markets.
In Malaysia, Singapore, and India, putu mayam, a cold coconut/rice-noodle concoction, is eaten for breakfast or a snack.
[edit] China
China's cuisine is as diverse as China itself. In Sichuan street cooking, a wide variety of xiǎochī (Chinese: 小吃) such as grilled rice balls and pan-fried noodles are sold, but restaurants are quickly replacing street vending. Beijing's Wangfujing district has a Snack Street. Islamic food, stemming either from the western Uighurs or the Hui minority, is another popular form of street food in China, especially thinly cut kebabs cooked over a barbecue pit. Sweets are also sold as street foods in China.
[edit] Hong Kong
Hong Kong boasts a wide variety of street food available in many areas. Notable foods include skewered beef and dim sum. Street side food vendors are called gaai bin dong (Chinese: 街邊檔, literally 'street side stalls'). Street food in Hong Kong can grow into a substantial business with the stalls only barely 'mobile' in the traditional street food sense (see dai pai dong).
[edit] India
The quintesential North Indian street food is Chaat -- a generic name for a typically tangy and spicy mix, whose ingredients can be quite varied. The tangy flavor is usually imparted by the use of lemon, pomegranate seeds, Black salt, tamarind, and various chutneys. Chaat can be prepared with fruit, with popular ones including guava, banana, apple, etc. It could instead be made using small crisp pancakes made from fried flour, called "paapri", along with yogurt. Potatoes sauteed with black cumin powder constitute another popular variant.
Other popular items are Panipuri (also known as gol gappas) and bhelpuri. Panipuri are hollow crisp balls made from dough, and filled as-you-eat with a spicy concoction of water and potatoes, topped by a choice of sweet or spicy chutney.
Vada pav is an example of South Indian street food. Masala chai, a spiced tea, is also frequently for sale. A syrup-covered deep-fried sweet is sold in the North as jalebi and the South as jangiri. Like all street food, it is generally very cheap and easily available throughout India.
Maharashtra, in the West, is the place where Vada pav is widely available and actually originated. Pav bhaji, is another such concoction. It acquired status of restaurant food but had humble beginnings as street food. It has retained its original roadside availability despite this. Another peculiar concoction is pav-sample which is found at several places in Maharashtra. The 'sample' refers usually to Sambar and the dish is simply pav (white bread) to be had with the curry called Sambar which is well known in India. Sambar being widely used for several other dishes as well, it was perhaps used in experimentation with pav. An extra dish of sambar is refered to as 'sample'. Although widely used in Maharashtra in roadside eateries, sambar is not native to the local culture. 'Sample' could also mean a plate of curry called 'Usal', which is a water based preparation of cooked sprouted lentils. Occasionally the term 'sample' could mean anything that goes conveniently with pav (usually implying a liquid nature)
Kerala, situated in the South, has "thattukada"s: a covered cart or van with stoves and utensils. They offer "thattu dosa" — a light rice-flour crepe fried in coconut oil and served with coconut chutney. The menu at a thattukada typically includes omelettes, spicy pork fry, and parottas (like naan, but beaten and mixed with oil).
Tamilnadu's has its talluvandis similair to Keralas thattukadas poularly called kaiyendhi bhavans,a subtle irony to the famous bhavan hotels like Saravana Bhavan,etc..,
[edit] Japan
In Japan, udon, soba, and ramen noodles are ubiquitous, as highlighted in the film Tampopo. Takoyaki, or octopus dumplings, are also famous as street food in Japan.
[edit] Korea (South)
Yaki-mandu, Fried Squid, Fried Shrimp, Fried Wonton, are some of the street foods you will find in some of the villages in South Korea outside of Seoul. Venders will fire up their "Woks" or large pots of frying oil in the evenings in anticipation of the pedestrian traffic going to and from clubs situated about. These street foods among other vendors serving Korean streetfoods such as Dukbukee, Odeng, and Korean-style toasted sandwiches are still popular in Seoul and larger cities.
[edit] Philippines
A wide variety of street foods are popular in the Philippines. The most ubiquitous include fried squidballs, fishballs, kikiam — a type of processed chicken, which are served on a stick, with a variety of dipping sauces.
Roadside stands also serve barbecued pork, chicken and offal, such as pig's blood (colloquially, Betamax after its rectangular shape), chicken heads (helmet), chicken feet (adidas) pig's ears and chicken intestines (isaw). Among more esoteric foods are balut and penoy (duck eggs; with fetus and without, respectively), tokneneng and quek-quek (battered, deep-fried chicken and quail eggs) and deep-fried day-old-chick.
Taho, a type of soft beancurd served with syrup and tapioca balls is another popular snack, as are more Western offerings, such as burgers, hotdogs and cotton candy.
Palamig (literally, coolers), are also quite popular, from traditional offerings like halo-halo to fruit juices. Sorbetes (or, colloquially, "dirty ice cream"), locally-produced ice cream in exotic flavors such as mango, cheese and yam is a perennial favorite. Image:Chedi food stall.jpg
[edit] Thailand
Traditional Thai street food includes a wide variety of different selections. Noodle dishes are extremely popular, among them are Pad Thai, Rad Naa, flat noodles with beef, pork, or chicken and vegetables, topped with a light gravy, and Rad Naa's twin, Pad See Iw, the same flat noodles dry-fried(no gravy) with a dark soy sauce, vegetables, meat, and chili. Other dishes include Tom Yum Kung (a soup), Khao Pad (fried rice), various kinds of satay, various curries. Japanese chikuwa and German sausages have also appeared in Bangkok. Canal food has been sold from boats on Thailand's rivers and canals for over two centuries, but since the early 20th century King Rama V's modernizations have caused a shift towards land-based stalls. In modern Bangkok parlance, a housewife who feeds her family with street food vendor is known as a "plastic-bag housewife." Street food in Thailand is an extremely important cuisine for locals and tourists alike. Many Thai people will eat 4 or 5 meals a day, and often these will be taken with friends or family at streetside dining carts. In some areas of Thailand, an inconspicious car-park or roadside area may be empty by day, but turn into a bustling food district as the sun goes down, when local street vendors arrive with their carts. This is the case in virtually every provincial capital.
[edit] Australia
Image:Pie floater.jpg The most common street food in Australia is the sausage sizzle, usually consisting of a thin sausage or sandwich steak cooked on a barbecue and served on a slice of bread with optional fried onions and tomato or barbecue sauce. The stalls are usually run by local sporting or charity groups as fundraisers.
A pie floater is a meal served at pie carts in Adelaide and elsewhere in South Australia. It was once more widely available in other parts of Australia, but its popularity waned. It consists of an Australian meat pie covered with tomato sauce, sitting in a plate of green pea soup.
People can buy soft serve and other ice creams from vans which drive around the streets. The vans alert potential customers with a tinkling tune, for example Greensleeves or The Entertainer.
[edit] Caribbean
[edit] Dominican Republic
Street food in the Dominican Republic includes several types of meals. Fried foods are especially common in the country. Empanadas are a very typical snack. Vendors can be found on many street corners. Empanadas are typically made of fried flour, though empanadas made out of cassava flour, called catibias, are also common. Popular fillings include cheese, chicken, beef, and vegetables, or a combination of these. Yaniqueques are sold at many empanada stands. Yaniqueques (from Johnny Cakes) are essentially round flour shaped cakes which are fried and usually eaten with salt and/or ketchup. Other vendors sell plantain fritters and fried or boiled salami.
Hamburgers are sold at stands called chimis, which also offer sandwiches called chimichurris, though these bear little to no resemblance to the South American sauce of the same name. Chimis occasionally also offer hot dogs and other sandwich varieties.
Corn on the cob can be bought on the street, usually sold by traveling vendors who move around on a tricycle. Sweets vendors who sell sweets such as candied coconut and dulce de leche sell their goods at major intersections in cities and sometimes have their own stands.
[edit] Jamaica
The Jamaican patty is sold in its place of origin, Jamaica.
[edit] Trinidad and Tobago
In Trinidad and Tobago there are many Roti and Shark & Bake stands that provide quick and delicious foods like roti, dahl puri, fried bake, and the most popular, Doubles.
Roti is a thin flat bread that's fluffy on the inside and crispy and flaky on the outside. It is cooked on a flat iron plate called a tawah or plateen and served with curried chicken, pork or beef.
Dahl puri is similar to the roti but is softer and pliable and has crushed dahl lentils cooked with saffron and placed in the center of the dough before it is rolled out and cooked. This is also served with either curried chicken, pork or beef.
Fried bake is made by frying flattened balls of dough that becomes fluffy and increases in height as it is fried. It can be served with fried ripe plantains, any meat or gravy. At the Shark & Bake stands you can also find fried bakes filled with well-seasoned shark fillets and dressed with many different condiments including pepper, garlic and chadon beni.
Doubles is made with two flat breads called baras that are filled with channa (chick peas) and topped with pepper, cucumber chutney, mango chutney, coconut chutney, bandania/chadon beni... whatever is available. You can either eat it all wrapped up as an easy to eat sandwich, or open it up and eat each bara separately to get optimum distribution of the contents.
[edit] Europe
There are many national street foods in Europe, but some foods have transcended borders. A good example of this is shawarma, brought to Europe by Arab and Turkish immigrants. The Quartier Latin in Paris is packed with shawarma vendors.
[edit] Benelux
Image:Fritkot.jpg In the Netherlands and Belgium, "vlaamse frites", the original french fries, are popular and are frequently served with mayonnaise, ketchup, or both.
In Belgium, Liège-style waffles (Dutch: "Wafel" or French: "Gaufre") are served warm as a street snack, similar to what is known in other countries as "Belgian Waffles". The pancake is also popular here, being sold fluffier than the French crêpe or the Russian blin.
In the Netherlands, raw salted herring is served with raw onion on the street; bread rolls come optionally. Street-eaters dessert on a kind of donut called oliebollen, "oily balls".
[edit] France
In France, crêpes are a national street food. They are sold on the street cheaply and are filling portions: a crêpe complète containing ham, shredded cheese, and an egg provides a filling lunch. One may also purchase a sweet crêpe, containing Nutella and banana or Grand Marnier and sugar, as a snack. Crêpe sellers frequently make panini, a grilled and pressed sandwich.
Other popular street foods include different sandwiches in baguette bread, slices of pizza and kebab type sandwiches.
During the winter, roasted chestnuts can be bought on many street corners.
[edit] Germany
Germany, with its high Turkish population, has a number of Turkish street foods beyond the pan-European shawarma. Döner is similar to shawarma and extremely common in Berlin, particularly in the Kreuzberg district. More traditionally, there is Fleischkäse and various types of sausage, as well as the recent hybrid curry-sausage, Currywurst. French fries ("Pommes" in German, derived from French but pronounced according to German orthographic rules) are very popular, served with ketchup and/or mayonaise, and sometimes with sausage. Beer is ubiquitous at all sidewalk snack stands, which usually feature a wide selection of beers and often small bottles of whiskey and vodka as well.
[edit] Italy
The most notable Italian street food is the pizza, sold in take-aways in all towns and cities. Take-away pizza is quite different from pizzeria pizza. Unlike the round pizza normally found in restaurants, it is generally made on large square trays, and square or rectangular portions are sold and, most often, eaten immediately. It usually has quite a thick base, again unlike the traditional Italian restaurant pizza. A wide variety of toppings are usually available, including margherite, mushrooms, Italian sausage, ham, and various vegetables. In Siena, the local form of takeaway pizza is quite different from elsewhere: it generally has an extremely fine dough, and often this is folded over the topping. Pizza takeaways also often sell suppli, a type of fried rice ball with cheese and some vegetables.
Rosticcerie, while most often selling food to be eaten at home, also sometimes have a counter for immediate consumption of their goods, the most common of which are roast chicken, roast potatoes, polenta and other accompaniments. In Naples, fried food stalls, known as friggitorie, sell various filled pastries and other foods, all deep-fried.
Gelato is also ubiquitous in Italy, even in the winter, and is of a very high standard.
[edit] Malta
Maltese street food is varied. One can sample the ubiquitous pastizzi - small, ricotta cheese or pea-filled puff-pastry squares that can be bought from vendors in practically every village in the country. The shops selling these pastries are called Pastizzeriji and they occasionally sell items such as pies, pizza slices and sausage rolls. One can also find Imqaret which are deep fried pastry filled with a mashed date mixture.
Hamburgers, hot dogs and other such products being sold from vans, replace perennial Maltese favorites such as Ħobż biż-żejt, bigilla and timpana.
[edit] Russia
In Russia, the blin (blini‘ (pl.)) is popular, in addition to shawarma (Döner kebab). They are smaller crêpes, usually folded into a square and served in a napkin. Ice cream is enjoyed even on the coldest of Moscow days. Pizza is sometimes available; the worst of it amounts to cold ketchup and mayonnaise on cold dough. Sit-down restaurants tend to be of much higher quality and cleanliness.
Kvas, a small beer made (usually) from bread, with honey being a frequent additive (myodniy kvass), is sold out of tanks or barrels on the street. Many shawarma sellers also sell rotisserie chicken and shashlik.
Stalls with window counters sell candy, snacks, beer, and other beverages, in addition to cigarettes.
[edit] Slovakia
In Slovakia street offerings include steamed sweetcorn cobs, fried flat bread loaves with garlic and salt or other condiments (langos), fried buns with poppy seed, jam or cream cheese filling (pirozky); seasonally, ice-cream is eaten in summer and roasted chestnuts in autumn. Ciganska pecienka (gypsy-style roasted pork), roasted sausage and more are sold at Saturday markets. In the last decade, the availability of crepes and fresh sandwiches on the streets has been increasing.
[edit] Spain
The concept of eating in the street is not very rooted in the Spanish culture, as this is kind of opposed to eating inside a bar with friends (tapeo). However, in winter it is traditional to have roasted chestnuts in the street, especially in the northern half of the country, and during fiestas, churros are also sold.
[edit] Former Yugoslavia
Cevapi, a sort of kebab, is popular throughout the region comprised by the former Yugoslavia.
[edit] Middle East
Falafel is the king of street food in the Middle East. Shawarma is immensely popular as well, and is usually made of chicken or lamb. Ful, made from fava beans, is a common dish in many Arab countries. In Syria and Lebanon, pastries made with a soft dough are common, either open like a mini-pizza or filled, and are variously termed fatayir, man'oushe, or basbouse depending on the type. Common toppings or fillings include zaatar, chili, spinach, meat, sausage meat, cheese, and olives. Fruit juice counters are extremely common in Syrian and Egyptian cities, providing fresh juice from all seasonal fruit as well as sugar-cane.
Sweets such as knafeh, made from cheese and pastry, and madlu'e, made from sweet cheese curds on a rich biscuit dough, are also sold from counters, drenched in syrup, and eaten on the street in Syria and Palestine. "Cheese sweets" are a specialty of Hama in central Syria.
[edit] Israel
In Israel, street eaters enjoy sabikh, a pita stuffed with hard-boiled egg, eggplant, tahini, and a mango paste similar in taste to chutney or atchar. It was introduced by Iraqi Jews. Burekas are common, being sold out of carts in front of bakeries. The most common street food is Falafel
[edit] Syria
In springtime in Syria, whole green almonds are sold from carts on the street. In summer, prickly pears and whole fresh pistachios are common, and pavement vendors as well as drink sellers in traditional costume with their goods in an enormous pot strapped to their back sell mulberry and liquorice juice.
[edit] Turkey
Many foods are available on the street in Turkey, both Middle Eastern and European. Tea vendors carry pots of hot, sweet tea through the bazaars; many bazaar vendors have their own pot brewing for potential customers.
[edit] North America
[edit] Canada
In Quebec, poutine (french fries with gravy and cheese curds) is a popular street food in addition to hot dogs, common across Canada. These are most frequently sold from mobile canteen trucks, usually referred to as "chip wagons". Since the creation of the original poutine dish, creative new options have evolved, the most popular being "Italian poutine", which adds meat sauce to the original blend of ingredients.
[edit] United States
In the United States, hot dogs and their many variations (corn dogs, chili dogs) are perhaps the most common street food, particularly in New York City. Roasted and salted nuts are also often sold. Pretzels and cheesesteak rule the day in Philadelphia. Throughout America, ice cream is sold out of trucks to children and adults alike. Chinese cuisine is sold in many large cities and Chinese neighborhoods; Mexican foods such as tacos and tortas are sold in neighborhoods with Mexican population. Pizza is often available from window counters; a pizza window counter is featured in the memorable opening of Saturday Night Fever, in which actor John Travolta displays American street-food sensibilities.
Some vendors operate out of food trucks on college campuses, particularly in the Northeast. One can purchase American, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, and other cuisines from these trucks. Like restaurants, they are regulated and subject to regular inspections by the local municipal or county health departments.
In addition to classic items such as the hot dog or soft pretzel, the Unites States features perhaps the largest available array of street food. High levels of ethnic diversity and the lack of a strictly defined national cuisine (such as those enjoyed by France or Italy) has given new gustatorial meaning to the term "melting pot." In most urban areas in America and Canada, it is not uncommon to find vendors selling falafel, gyros, kebobs and rice, panini, crepes, french fries, chicken tikka masala, eggrolls, or other popular international dishes. One would still be hard pressed to find the more exotic offerings of African street vendors, but the fast-food equivalents of the Middle East, Europe, and Asia are all well represented.
On the West Coast, in cities such as Los Angeles, California, the variations of street food tend towards food with a Latin American flair.
[edit] Mexico
In Mexico, tacos, tortas (traditional Mexican sandwiches), and tamales are widespread. Street vendors selling aguas frescas are ubiquitous in Mexican cities.
[edit] South America
[edit] Brazil
Pão de queijo, which can be translated as "cheese bread", is a popular street snack in the southeast of Brazil and, increasingly, the rest of the country. Hot dogs are often sold with grated cheese, grilled onions, mayonnaise, green peas or mashed potatoes (São Paulo only) as choice of toppings. Hamburgers are also offered with a wide assortment of toppings, such as mozzarela cheese, bacon, eggs, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard, the popular "X-Tudo" (or cheese-all, a souped up cheeseburger). Calabresa (Pepperoni) sausage sandwiches are also popular.
Rio de Janeiro beach vendors are famous for their Mate Gelado (yerba mate iced-tea), biscoitos de polvilho (sour manioc flour puffs), roasted peanuts and queijo coalho (grilled cheese on sticks, barbecued on the spot) as well as popsicles, cold beer and home-made sandwiches (sanduiche natural). In the northeastern state of Bahia, the region's African heritage is reflected in the iconic acarajé (deep fried black eyed pea bun filled with caruru, made from salted dried shrimp, and vatapá, a creamy combination of coconut milk, palm oil and cashew nuts) or sweets like cocada (candied coconut) and pé-de-moleque (peanut brittle). All over the country, popcorn is always offered in push carts both salty or sweet (with sugar and cocoa powder). Churros push carts (sausage shaped deep fried dough filled with a choice of doce-de-leite caramel or chocolate sauce) are also easily found on any major city street.
[edit] Colombia
in Colombia, the empanada, a deep-fried meat-filled patty, is very popular.
[edit] Peru
In Peru, anticuchos, a type of kebab, are often sold by street vendors called anticucheras.
[edit] External References
- ↑ Damrongchai, Nareenoot. "Street Food-the way of eating in Bangkok", E-Vision, Spring 2003 (issue 1).
- ↑ Dunlop, Fuchsia. "Sichuan Street Snacks", Saveur, March 2005 (issue 82).
- Lasang Pinoy Street Food Round-up
