STREET FOOD!!!

Fred wrote:

Hot, freshly cooked food is unlikely to be the source of the bug, but poorly washed dishes are a good bet, especially as many are washed in a bucket and the places have no running water.
I leave a set of plastic cutlery in the car and order the food to take away so I don't use their dirty plates. Problem solved.

I found, in my extensive travels (incl. Indonesia, Thailand, China, India, etc.), that people who bring their own utensils get sick more often than me (who eats everything and doesn't care at all). My theory is that paranoia makes you sick. But it might also be that I just have an iron stomach.
The only two times I got really sick - in China (most probably rat poison in the dish) and India (a buffet that probably stood there warm for too long) - it was in proper restaurants (and I was well again in a day). I got a far worse stomach upset (a week of streptococcus infection) from a raw cucumber in Greece.
For me, trying the incredible diversity (and availability) of street foods is a major aspect of any travel and I certainly don't want to miss it!

paulopereirra wrote:

European regulations have killed the street food, but very happy to find quality and affordable delicatesse broadly on Asian ccountrys

No, European regulations did not "kill street food". That is a totally untrue statement. It was never popular in most countries and is more popular than ever, having become a fad in recent years in Germany and many other countries. And yes, there are hygiene and food safety regulations, thank goodness.

TominStuttgart wrote:

... And yes, there are hygiene and food safety regulations, thank goodness.

All this talk of street food reminds me of a blog-post of mine I wrote five years ago, which gave a passing mention of my youthful travels with a girl I'd met at a Youth Hostel in Greece. We were always too wary to eat street food, preferring to take our chances with the local restaurants. Here's how I remembered the experience sixty years later...

During our backpacking days in the Middle East in the ‘60s, not being able to understand the languages of the region, and travelling poor, Linda and I used to inspect the pots bubbling away in the slum restaurants’ filthy kitchens. As a rule of thumb, and all else being equal, we would choose from the pot furthest away from the cockroaches and rat-droppings. Looking back now, we suspect that what we ate then was probably healthier than the food the agri-businesses palm off on the world today. What a sad judgment that is, on the modern way of life.

Konstantinos1776 wrote:

Having worked in the hotel business before, I can safely tell you that most foods offered at a hotel, no matter the star rate, are of the worst quality. Very rarely you'll find a restaurant that is seriously clean. The ones that are clean, are those whose owners use the restaurants for money laundering. I've worked even in a Miscellen-rated restaurant. They said that the fish is fresh from the local sea. Little did I know when I went to the back of the kitchen and saw that the "fresh" fish is caught in China and is frozen.

This is the reason why I avoid eating out as much as I can! I had a teenager tell me she was fired because she couldn't keep her hands clean. Now, when I see "kids" in the restaurant, I run. 🤣

Konstantinos1776 wrote:

Having worked in the hotel business before, I can safely tell you that most foods offered at a hotel, no matter the star rate, are of the worst quality. Very rarely you'll find a restaurant that is seriously clean.

You have worked at some VERY dodgy places.

Konstantinos1776 wrote:

Having worked in the hotel business before, I can safely tell you that most foods offered at a hotel, no matter the star rate, are of the worst quality. Very rarely you'll find a restaurant that is seriously clean. The ones that are clean, are those whose owners use the restaurants for money laundering. I've worked even in a Miscellen-rated restaurant. They said that the fish is fresh from the local sea. Little did I know when I went to the back of the kitchen and saw that the "fresh" fish is caught in China and is frozen.

Dear Konstantinos in Bulgaria,

Welcome to expat.com ....

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I have scrutinized your profile.  You have not established the credentials here or even claimed the status to reliably make broad, worldwide, damning statements on our international forum about hotel foods being "the worst quality" and claiming that the supposedly few restaurants that are clean are laundering money.

The fact that you once worked in the hotel business .. does that give you the gravitas to make such statements?

I am not impressed by the fact that you mention one restaurant (where was it?) where you saw some frozen fish from China.  Even less impressed with your inability to spell Michelin.

Your statements are too bold and sweeping and damning to go unchallenged unless you have the credentials to back them up. 

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Anne-Lise Mty wrote:

one wouldn't choose their expat destination on the (street) food they do but wouldn't the world be a better place if we could ? 

Anyway, how's the street food where you are?

Let's go back to street food, the original topic of this thread.

I fear we went  into expensive hotel rooms and money-laundering restaurants.

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Personally, unless the food is fruit or vegetables that can be peeled or washed at home, I avoid street food and have done so for decades.  As a rule, I don't trust that it is sanitary.

I won't eat from Sabrett's hot dog carts on the streets of Manhattan.  I steer clear of cooked offerings of Ecuadorian food from the street vendors in Quito.  Street food in Lima, Peru -- forget it!

My one exception has been the delicious street food in Thailand, specifically in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (my last visit to Thailand was in 2012).  I just trust the Thais to be cleaner than most cultures .. and have never had a stomach problem after eating regularly from the awesome bags/bowls/containers of food on the streets of the Thai capital's tourist districts.  I was surprised to read, courtesy of Mr. tea bag on this thread, that Bangkok was shutting down street vendors in certain areas .. so that pedestrians could walk along the streets.  Imagine that!

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abthree wrote:

nobody ever got sick from too much Glühwein, at least not that way. 

You haver NO idea to what length German teenagers go in order to "be cool". The morning after is especially severe with Glühwein! (I am glad I left that age behind ...)
But: Do you seriously consider it "food"?

beppi wrote:

You haver NO idea to what length German teenagers go in order to "be cool". The morning after is especially severe with Glühwein! (I am glad I left that age behind ...)
But: Do you seriously consider it "food"?

I confess, I was thinking of the sausages, too, that I would wash down with my Glühwein.  I was living in Flensburg  - it's cold there at Christmastime! 

beppi wrote:

Back to the original topic:

This might be due to a naturally strong digestive tract (which would be sheer luck) or the constant training I gave it.

agree with  you beppi
before you eat any food that you are not used to
make sure you have

- strong digestive tract
- a constant enough training to that food

watch out for
wild mushrooms - wild boar or wild deer meat
delicious tasty food
but surprinsing tricky undesirable dreadly harmful too

kittycat1 wrote:

watch out for
wild mushrooms

I love and eat them often - especially self-collected ones in autumn.
Nothing wrong with mushrooms, if you know what you're doing!