Street food
Street food is food sold by a hawker or vendor on a street or at another public place, such as a market, fair, or park. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumption. Some street foods are regional, but many have spread beyond their regions of origin. Most street foods are classified as both finger food and fast food, and are generally cheaper than restaurant meals. The types of street food vary between regions and cultures in different countries around the world. According to a 2007 study from the Food and Agriculture Organization, 2.5 billion people eat street food every day. While some cultures consider it to be rude to walk on the street while eating, a majority of middle- to high-income consumers rely on the quick access and affordability of street food for daily nutrition and job opportunities, particularly in developing countries.
File:Churro-Vendor.ogg|thumb|A video clip of a vendor making churros in Colombia
Today governments and other organizations are increasingly concerned with both the socioeconomic importance of street food and its associated risks. These risks include food safety, sanitation issues, illegal use of public or private areas, social problems, and traffic congestion.
History
Europe
In ancient Greece, small fried fish was a street food; however, the Greek philosopher Theophrastus held the custom of street food in low regard. Evidence of a large number of street food vendors was discovered during the excavation of Pompeii. Street food was widely consumed by poor urban residents of ancient Rome whose tenement houses did not have ovens or hearths. Chickpea soup with bread and grain paste were common meals.A travelling Florentine reported in the late 14th century noted that in Cairo, people brought picnic cloths made of rawhide to spread on the streets and sit on while they ate their meals of lamb kebabs, rice, and fritters they purchased from street vendors. In Renaissance Turkey, many crossroads had vendors selling "fragrant bites of hot meat," including chicken and lamb that had been spit-roasted. In 1502, Ottoman Turkey became the first country to legislate and standardize the sale of street food.
In the 19th century, street food vendors in Transylvania sold gingerbread nuts, cream mixed with corn, and bacon and other meat fried on top of ceramic vessels with hot coals inside. French fries, consisting of fried strips of potato, probably originated as a street food in Paris in the 1840s. Street foods in Victorian London included tripe, pea soup, pea pods in butter, whelk, prawns and jellied eels.
Americas
market places had vendors who sold beverages such as atolli, almost 50 types of tamales, as well as insects and stews. Spanish colonization brought European food stocks like wheat, sugarcane and livestock to Peru, but most commoners continued to primarily eat their traditional diets. Imports were only accepted at the margins of their diet, for example, grilled beef hearts sold by street vendors. Some of Lima's 19th-century street vendors such as "Erasmo, the 'negro' Sango vendor" and Na Agardite are still remembered today.During the American Colonial period, "street vendors sold oysters, roasted corn ears, fruit, and sweets at low prices to all classes." Oysters, in particular, were cheap and popular street food until around 1910 when overfishing and pollution caused prices to rise. Street vendors in New York City faced considerable opposition. After previous restrictions had limited their operating hours, street food vendors were completely banned in New York City by 1707. Many women of African descent made their living selling street foods in America in the 18th and 19th centuries, with products ranging from fruit, cakes, and nuts in Savannah, to coffee, biscuits, pralines and other sweets in New Orleans. Cracker Jack started as one of many street food exhibits at the Columbian Exposition.
Asia
The selling of street food in China stretches back millennia and became an integral part of Chinese food culture during the Tang Dynasty. In ancient China, street food primarily catered to the poor, although wealthy residents would often send servants to buy street food and bring it back for their meals at home. Street food continues to play a major role in Chinese cuisine with regional street food generating a strong interest in culinary tourism among both domestic and international travellers. Because of the Chinese diaspora, Chinese street food has had a major influence on other cuisines across Asia and even introduced the concept of a street food culture to various countries. The street food culture in much of Southeast Asia was established by coolie workers imported from China during the late 19th century.Ramen, whose predecessor was originally brought to Japan by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th or early 20th century, began as a street food for Chinese laborers and students who lived in Yokohama Chinatown. However, ramen gradually became a "national dish" of Japan and even acquired regional variations as it spread across the country.
Street food was commonly sold by the ethnic Chinese population of Thailand and did not become popular among native Thai people until the early 1960s, when the rapid urban population growth stimulated the street food culture, and by the 1970s it had "displaced home-cooking." As a result, many Thai street foods are derived from or heavily influenced by Chinese cuisine. About 76% of urban residents in Thailand regularly visit street food vendors. The rise of the country's tourism industry has also contributed to the popularity of Thai street food. Thailand's 103,000 street food vendors alone generated 270 billion baht in revenues in 2017. Suvit Maesincee, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, expects the Thai street food segment to grow by six to seven percent annually from 2020 onwards. Multiple studies showed that contamination of food that street food vendors sell is at the same level as the contamination at restaurants. An estimated 2% or 160,000 vendors provide street food for Bangkok's eight million people.
The Arthashastra mentions food vendors in ancient India. One regulation states that "those who trade in cooked rice, liquor, and flesh" are to live in the south of the city. Another states that superintendents of storehouses may give surpluses of bran and flour to "those who prepare cooked rice, and rice-cakes", while a regulation involving city superintendents references "sellers of cooked flesh and cooked rice".
In Delhi, India, it is said that kings used to visit the kebab vendors on the street, which are still in operation. During the colonial times, fusion street food was created, which was made with British customers in mind.
In Indonesia, especially Java, traveling food and drink vendors have a long history, as they were described in temple bas reliefs dated from the 9th century, as well as mentioned in 14th-century inscriptions as a line of work. In Indonesia, street food is sold from carts and bicycles. During the colonial Dutch East Indies period, several street foods were developed and documented, including satay and dawet street vendors. The current proliferation of Indonesia's vibrant street food culture is contributed by the massive urbanization in recent decades that has opened opportunities in food service sectors. This took place in the country's rapidly expanding urban agglomerations, especially in Greater Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya.
Singapore has a large number of hawker centres which evolved from the traditional commerce of street food and was incorporated into UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage on 16 December 2020.
Around the world
Street food vending is found all around the world and varies greatly between regions and cultures.Dorling Kindersley describes the street food of Vietnam as being "fresh and lighter than many of the cuisines in the area" and "draw heavily on herbs, Chile peppers and lime," while street food of Thailand is "fiery" and "pungent with shrimp paste and fish sauce." Street food in Thailand offers a varied selection of ready-to-eat meals, snacks, fruits and drinks. The capital of Thailand, Bangkok, has been listed as one of the best places for street food. Popular street offerings in Bangkok include Pad Thai, green papaya salad, sour tom yum soup, Thai curries and mango sticky rice.
Indonesian street food is a diverse mix of local Indonesian, Chinese, and Dutch influences. Indonesian street food is often strongly flavored and spicy. Much of the street food in Indonesia is fried, such as fritters, nasi goreng and ayam goreng. Bakso, satay and gado-gado are also popular.
File:Chicken Döner in Berlin.jpg|thumb|Doner kebab, an originally Turkish dish that found popularity in Germany
Indian street food is as diverse as Indian cuisine. Some of the more popular street food dishes are vada pav, misal pav, chole bhature, parathas, bhel puri, sev puri, gol gappa aloo tikki, kebabs, tandoori chicken, samosas, kachori, idli, pohe, egg bhurji, pav bhaji, pulaw, pakora, lassi, kulfi and falooda. In Hindi-speaking regions of India, street food is popularly known as nukkadwala food. In South India, foods like mirchi bajji, punugulu, and mokkajonna are common street foods, along with breakfast items like idli, dosa and bonda. Other popular Asian fusion street food include gobi manchurian, momos and omelette. While some vendors streamline the recipes of popular dishes to sell them on the street, several restaurants have taken their inspiration from the street food of India.
Falafel is a popular dish in the Middle East. Vendors sell it on street corners in Palestine, Egypt, and Syria. Another food sold commonly on the street in Egypt is ful, a slow-cooked fava bean dish.
In Denmark, sausage wagons allow passers-by to purchase sausages and hot dogs.
In Turkey, chicken shawarma is widely enjoyed in wraps called dürüm, served with toum and fresh vegetables.
In Jamaica a traditional dish is Jamaican jerk chicken. The original marinade calls for ingredients such as Scotch bonnet peppers, allspice berries and sometimes wood from laurel trees.
Mexican street food is known as antojitos and features several varieties of tacos, such as tacos al pastor, as well as huaraches and other maize-based foods.
New York City's signature street food is the hot dog, but New York street food also includes everything from Middle Eastern falafel to Jamaican jerk chicken to Belgian waffles.
In Hawaii, the local street food tradition of "plate lunch" was inspired by the bento of the Japanese who had been brought to Hawaii as plantation workers.