Street Food: Paradise or Poison?

No matter what country you visit, there's always some sort of food for sale on the street side. Whether it's a kebab in Malaysia or a greasy hotdog in London, there's food to be had everywhere. What's the weirdest and tastiest thing you've tried?



I don't know about you, but the first thing that comes to mind when I think about street food is the stay stalls in Singapore. Sure, it's a little Disney and a little staged, but the satay stalls at Lau Pa Sat in Singapore are clean, tasty and cheap! Similar stalls exist in Malaysia, but they're the real deal. Genuine, almost healthy street food.


If you think street food is just limited to Asia, then you're wrong. Hang around any night club in London on the weekend and you'll see street food. It's not yummy satay, but instead it's good solid English stodge - sausages fried in some sort of oil (motor oil?) and onions. I think eating those hotdogs is a bit life threatening, but try and resist the smell of frying onions when you've had a few too many to drink!


Beijing has setup an entire street of food stalls. To me, they seem put on for the tourists. They feature all sorts of weird stuff on sticks. If you're into eating snake, then you're in luck. You can get whole snakes on a stick, or just the skin. Yum, yum. There's also beetles, frogs and god knows what else! There's also fruit on a stick covered with toffee, which looks a lot tastier!

In most areas of Indonesia, there are the little guys who wander around with their carts, selling soup and other fast food. It always smells yummy, but I've never been game enough to try them!

In Morocco, there are road side sellers of prickly pears. Trimmed of the prickles, they're a tasty treat that's both sweet and juicy. It's also very cheap!
In Delhi, there are peanut sellers on the streets. You can get them cold or warm!

The old saying of the traveler is that “if you can’t peel it, cook it, or boil it, forget it”. This makes a lot of sense, but it also means you miss out on some yummy food. Street food that's cooked to a crisp in front of you is usually safe, but you never can tell.

What's your experience of eating street food? Good or bad?