Street food

Street food is prepared and sold by vendors in public spaces like streets, markets, fairs, or parks, typically from portable setups such as booths, carts, or trucks, and is designed to be eaten right away. While some street foods are tied to specific regions, many have traveled far from their origins. Most qualify as both finger food and fast food, and they are usually less expensive than meals at restaurants. The offerings differ widely across regions and cultures worldwide. A 2007 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization found that 2.5 billion people eat street food daily. Although in some cultures eating while walking is frowned upon, street food provides quick, affordable nutrition and job opportunities for many, especially in developing countries, where it is a key part of daily life for middle- to high-income consumers. Governments and organizations are paying more attention to both the economic importance of street food and the challenges it brings, such as food safety, sanitation, unauthorized use of public or private spaces, social issues, and traffic problems.

**History**

In ancient Greece, small fried fish were sold on the street, though the philosopher Theophrastus looked down on the practice. Excavations in Pompeii uncovered evidence of many street food vendors. In ancient Rome, poor city residents, who lived in tenements without ovens or hearths, commonly ate street food, including chickpea soup with bread and grain paste. A Florentine traveler in the late 14th century noted that in Cairo, people spread rawhide picnic cloths on the streets to sit and eat lamb kebabs, rice, and fritters bought from vendors. During the Renaissance in Turkey, vendors at many crossroads sold spit-roasted chicken and lamb. In 1502, Ottoman Turkey became the first country to regulate and standardize street food sales. In 19th-century Transylvania, vendors offered gingerbread nuts, cream mixed with corn, and bacon or other meat fried on ceramic vessels filled with hot coals. French fries, fried strips of potato, likely began as street food in Paris in the 1840s. In Victorian London, street foods included tripe, pea soup, buttered pea pods, whelks, prawns, and jellied eels.

In the Americas, Aztec market vendors sold drinks like atolli (a maize-dough gruel), nearly 50 types of tamales (filled with turkey, rabbit, gopher, frog, fish, fruits, eggs, or maize flowers), as well as insects and stews. Spanish colonization introduced wheat, sugarcane, and livestock to Peru, but most commoners stuck to their traditional diets, only occasionally accepting imports like grilled beef hearts from street vendors. Some 19th-century Lima street vendors, such as Erasmo, the "negro" Sango vendor, and Na Agardite, are still remembered. During the American colonial period, street vendors sold oysters, roasted corn, fruit, and sweets to all social classes at low prices. Oysters were especially cheap and popular until overfishing and pollution drove up prices around 1910. New York City street vendors faced heavy opposition; after earlier restrictions on hours, they were completely banned by 1707. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many women of African descent earned a living selling street foods in America—fruit, cakes, and nuts in Savannah, and coffee, biscuits, pralines, and other sweets in New Orleans. Cracker Jack began as one of many street food exhibits at the Columbian Exposition.

In Asia, street food vending in China dates back thousands of years and became a key part of Chinese food culture during the Tang Dynasty. It originally served the poor, though wealthy residents often sent servants to buy street food for home meals. Street food remains central to Chinese cuisine, with regional varieties drawing culinary tourists from home and abroad. The Chinese diaspora spread Chinese street food across Asia and introduced the concept of street food culture to many countries. In much of Southeast Asia, street food culture was established by Chinese coolie workers who arrived in the late 19th century. Ramen, whose predecessor was brought to Japan by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th or early 20th century, started as street food for Chinese laborers and students in Yokohama Chinatown. It later became a national dish of Japan, developing regional variations as it spread. In Thailand, street food was originally sold by the ethnic Chinese population and only gained popularity among native Thais in the early 1960s, when rapid urban growth fueled the street food culture; by the 1970s, it had replaced home cooking for many. Consequently, 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, and the country’s tourism boom has further boosted its popularity. Thailand’s 103,000 street food vendors generated 270 billion baht in 2017, and Minister Suvit Maesincee predicted the sector would grow by six to seven percent.