STREET FOOD!!!

I have one rule with street food - Buy it to take away.
Food poisoning can be a problem here (Indonesia), usually mild, but the best way to avoid it is not using the supplied plates and utensils.
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 don't plan trips around street food, but when it's one of the highlights in a certain destination, I make it a point to try them out. Always come with meds though because you never know :p

Whilst living and working in Bogor Indonesia I got street food from a cart who had permission to be in the housing compound. Always used my own plates and utensils, never got sick.

I don't eat that much street food where I live, in Bangkok, but I don't completely avoid it either.  I like roti the best, and buy fruit most after that.  There's kind of no need to buy things like pad Thai (fried noodles) on the street because there are hundreds of food courts in this city all selling similar versions.  Grilled meats or hot dogs are probably the most common thing you see here, but the range is really broad.  Small, informal cafes are set up on streets that aren't so different than food shops, just out on the sidewalk instead.  My kids and I eat fried chicken sold from a local market that's similar to a version sold on the street too.  They put way too much msg in any version that you buy, but it's all probably relatively safe.

It makes news that Bangkok is getting rid of that, removing sidewalk vending of street food and other items in order to make space for pedestrians on sidewalks.  It's true, but it's not as if they've removed most of it, only from a few or the most prominent areas.  Most locals (expat locals, I probably hear from most online) tend to see the step as a bad thing, since the sidewalks can be congested but it's part of the local culture.

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!

Wait 'til you see the pictures of why I keep a spoon and whatever with me.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 42#3273532

I too have a cast iron stomach and got sick after eating at a supposedly good restaurant in Brazil. Never been sick from eating street food.
When buying from a street vendor I do watch the cooking process and am not averse to asking for longer cooking time.

Man, the street food I had all over Malaysia during my exploratory visit last May was awesome and I come from a foodie capital that is San Francisco.  Did not have any issues with the street food.  The only issue I had was probably from some non fresh crab I ate at a locals sea side restaurant. 

I just love how a street (Jalan Alor) can seem normal during the day with traffic and all is then shut down completely at night for street food galore.  I mean, we are talking many blocks worth right??? Talk about competition at its finest.  Amazing!!! 

My niece's fiancee, Mr. White Bread, All-American, recently was in Singapore on a pass through for work.  I was concerned he would hate the food over there since he is all meats and potato.  Just like me, couldn't stop raving about the street hawker food  over there.  Shocked the heck out of me!!!

It wasn't from a street vendor but I had an amazing dessert on Jonker Street in Malacca that I keep a pic of it on my phone to remind me that this is a must the next time we are back there.

One of the best things about Taipei is the food. It is everywhere and affordable. There are night markets in almost every neighbourhood filled with people who do little more than walk from one food stall to the next. Pizza is impossible to find, but Chinese and Japanese food are in abundance.

There is an issue with gutter oil, though that is easy to solve. If this stall has a long line and that stall has no customers, go to this stall. There is likely a reason.

There are also restaurants everywhere. Street food is not required, but is the Taiwanese version of fast food. Ironically, American fast food like McDonald's and KFC are not considered fast food as they are expensive and slow by comparison.

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

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.

I would rather say: High labour costs have killed street food in some European countries.
In Asia, where the difference between rich (customers) and poor (street peddlers) is still bigger, it thrives.

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.

I like the Brazilian skewered street assados and pastel de carne. "Kilawen nga kalding" is very good in Ilocos Sur, PI

I agree with you. And I avoid plastic bags.   

Street foods are mostly traditional food for the home town, village, cit, country, etc. Street foods are cheap and delicious, but most of them on street as it's called street food so while preparing food in open environment is dangerous for health to eat, it's might containing some small virus which can make you sick even not that serious but still you can encounter with Cough, Flue, Throat pain, etc. My advice avoid to eat these food until you are not sure it's clean.

More like stolen from the Greeks and the Turks, huh?

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.

Not a fan of street food here.  Intestinal upsets are an inevitable part of extensive travel, but I try not to go to the effort of contracting any extras. 

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.

Just for additional information, one of them was the most expensive hotel in the world, with a private suite that costs over $200,000 per night.

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 ....

----

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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Street food tips for travelers to stay healthy....

1.  Eat when the locals eat.

This helps ensure that serving pots of food are emptied/refilled before bacteria can arrive and thrive.

2.  Watch out for drinks that may contain contaminated water. 

Better to buy a bottled beverage at 7-11 than to trust that the water used in a cheap shake or other beverage is potable.

3.  Do what you can to avoid individual  vendors who handle both money and food without proper sanitary precautions.

Source... How to Eat Street Food Without Getting Sick,
   www.legalnomads.com (September 2020)

Which brings us to the disputable theory that travelers should not eat at restaurants where the locals eat when they are in a foreign country.

Per the stomach-ache logic (posited in a now-deleted post) that means avoiding local restaurants, a reaction to local foods is a potential result that millions of travelers are willing to risk .. in order to explore the world and its culinary marvels.  Such travelers -- and I include myself in this group if visiting a new country -- do not restrict ourselves to KFC-McDonalds-fast food eateries when a world of new tastes can be sampled.

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However, I am not advocating the eating of street food (except perhaps in Thailand).  As mentioned earlier in this thread, I do not consider street food to be a sanitary option in most countries.

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While a stomach problem at a local restaurant is a possibility, it is not a given. 

As a traveler to Ecuador before I bought my Quito condo .. and in my travels to other South American countries .. I have never had a stomach ache, food poisoning or worse in those countries -- Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Peru.  I ate mostly in local and hotel restaurants during those travels. 

Your mileage may vary.

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Back to the original topic:
Sampling the food is an excellent way to experience local culinary and cultural traditions and, in my opinion, should be a major part of any travel.
There is hardly a better way to do this than trying all kinds of readily available and cheap dishes from street stalls.
While I acknowledge that there might be hygienic aspects, especially in poorer and/or less orderly places, the previous poster pointed out that high-class restaurants are not necessarily better (but the problems are certainly less visible there).
I travelled quite a bit in my younger years, including to dodgy places, always disregarded health warnings and followed my tongue and the locals' palate. I suffered surprizingly few stomach upsets (and most of them from sit-down restaurants, although the lower-class kind).
This might be due to a naturally strong digestive tract (which would be sheer luck) or the constant training I gave it. I  believe the latter, because I also observed during my backpacking trips that those who were careful and for example avoided water, uncooked items and carried their own (disinfected) utensils were more often sick than those who didn't give a damn. Psychology certainly also plays a part: Worrying about something makes it more likely to happen!
Anyway, I do continue this in my (now much less frequent) trips and nothing will change my mind.

***

Beppi,

I certainly make an exception for Jahrmarkt in Germany:  nobody ever got sick from too much Glühwein, at least not that way. 

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!

One of the best - hot dogs' - Rest. in Manhattan (NYC)

'Gray's Papaya'
Hot Dog Restaurant Chain
(Broadway & 72nd St.)

who
* Jack Nicholson *

in the film
'The Last Detail' (1973)
Great funny Comedy - Road Movie -

Awesome * charismatic * charming  actor
3 Academy Award winner -100 nominations & 89 Wins

he along the other two actors (in the film) stopped by there 'cause didn't want to miss to enjoy one of the best hot dogs of NYC

*another funny scene: the three of them having a BBQ in the public park


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070290/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000197/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0