Street food

A video clip of a vendor making churros in Colombia
German currywurst

Street food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or other public place, such as at a market or fair. It is often sold from a portable food booth,[1] food cart, or food truck and meant for immediate consumption. Some street foods are regional, but many have spread beyond their region of origin. Most street foods are classed as both finger food and fast food, and are cheaper on average than restaurant meals. According to a 2007 study from the Food and Agriculture Organization, 2.5 billion people eat street food every day.[2]

Today, people may purchase street food for a number of reasons, such as to get flavorful food for a reasonable price in a sociable setting, to experience ethnic cuisines, or for nostalgia.[3]

History

Small fried fish were a street food in ancient Greece,[4] however, Theophrastus held the custom of street food in low regard.[5] Evidence of a large number of street food vendors were discovered during the excavation of Pompeii.[6] Street food was widely consumed by poor urban residents of ancient Rome whose tenement homes did not have ovens or hearths.[7] Here, chickpea soup[8] with bread and grain paste[9] were common meals. In ancient China, street food generally catered to the poor, however, wealthy residents would send servants to buy street food and bring it back for them to eat in their homes.[7]

A traveling Florentine reported in the late 14th century 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 that they had purchased from street vendors.[10] In Renaissance Turkey, many crossroads had vendors selling "fragrant bites of hot meat", including chicken and lamb that had been spit-roasted.[11] In 1502, Ottoman Turkey became the first country to legislate and standardize street food.[12]

Aztec marketplaces had vendors who sold beverages such as atolli ("a gruel made from maize dough"), almost 50 types of tamales (with ingredients that ranged from the meat of turkey, rabbit, gopher, frog and fish to fruits, eggs and maize flowers),[13] as well as insects and stews.[14] Spanish colonization brought European food stocks like wheat, sugarcane and livestock to Peru, however, 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.[15] Some of Lima's 19th-century street vendors such as "Erasmo, the 'negro' sango vendor" and Na Aguedita are still remembered today.[16]

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 a cheap and popular street food until around 1910 when overfishing and pollution caused prices to rise.[17] Street vendors in New York City faced a lot of opposition. After previous restrictions had limited their operating hours, street food vendors were completely banned in New York City by 1707.[18] 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.[19] Cracker Jack started as one of many street food exhibits at the Columbian Exposition.[20]

In the 19th century, street food vendors in Transylvania sold gingerbread-nuts, cream mixed with corn, as well as bacon and other meat fried on top of ceramic vessels with hot coals inside.[21] French fries, consisting of fried strips of potato, probably originated as a street food in Paris in the 1840s.[22] Street foods in Victorian London included tripe, pea soup, pea pods in butter, whelk, prawns, and jellied eels.[23]

Ramen, originally brought to Japan by Chinese immigrants about 100 years ago, began as a street food for laborers and students. However, it soon became a "national dish" and even acquired regional variations.[24] The street food culture of Southeast Asia today was heavily influenced by coolie workers imported from China during the late 19th century.[25] In Thailand, although street food did not become popular among native Thai people until the early 1960s, because of rapid urban population growth,[26] by the 1970s it had "displaced home-cooking."[27]

Around the world

Main article: Regional street food
Street vendor of snack foods in Nepal

Street food vending is found all around the world, but varies greatly between regions and cultures.[28] For example, Dorling Kindersley describes the street food of Vietnam as being "fresh and lighter than many of the cuisines in the area" and "draw[ing] heavily on herbs, chile peppers and lime", while street food of Thailand is "fiery" and "pungent with shrimp paste ... and fish sauce." New York City's signature street food is the hot dog, however, New York street food also includes everything from "spicy Middle Eastern falafel or Jamaican jerk chicken to Belgian waffles"[29] In Hawaii, the local street food tradition of "plate lunch" (rice, macaroni salad, and a portion of meat) was inspired by the bento of the Japanese who had been brought to Hawaii as plantation workers.[30] In Denmark, sausage wagons allow passersby to purchase sausages and hot dogs.

Cultural and economic aspects

The presence of street food vendors in New York City throughout much of its history, such as these circa 1906, are credited with helping support the city's rapid growth.

Because of differences in culture, social stratification and history, the ways in which family street vendor enterprises are traditionally created and run vary in different areas of the world.[31] For example, few women are street vendors in Bangladesh, but women predominate in the trade in Nigeria and Thailand.[32] Doreen Fernandez says that Filipino cultural attitudes towards meals is one "cultural factor operating in the street food phenomenon" in the Philippines because eating "food out in the open, in the market or street or field" is "not at odds with the meal indoors or at home" where "there is no special room for dining".[21]

Walking on the street while eating is considered rude in some cultures,[33] such as Japan[34] or Swahili cultures, although it is acceptable for children.[35] In India, Henrike Donner wrote about a "marked distinction between food that could be eaten outside, especially by women," and the food prepared and eaten at home, with some non-Indian food being too "strange" or tied too closely to non-vegetarian preparation methods to be made at home.[36]

In Tanzania's Dar es Salaam region, street food vendors produce economic benefits beyond their families. Because street food vendors purchase local fresh foods, urban gardens and small-scale farms in the area have expanded.[37] In the United States, street food vendors are credited with supporting New York City's rapid growth by supplying meals for the city's merchants and workers.[38] Proprietors of street food in the United States have had a goal of upward mobility, moving from selling on the street to their own shops.[3] However, in Mexico, an increase in street vendors has been seen as a sign of deteriorating economic conditions in which food vending is the only employment opportunity that unskilled labor who have migrated from rural areas to urban areas are able to find.[14]

In 2002, Coca Cola reported that China, India, and Nigeria were some of its fastest-growing markets; markets where the company's expansion efforts included training and equipping mobile street vendors to sell its products.[37]

Health and safety

The hepatitis A virus can be spread through improper food handling.[39]

As early as the 14th century, government officials oversaw street food vendor activities.[10] With the increasing pace of globalization and tourism, the safety of street food has become one of the major concerns of public health, and a focus for governments and scientists to raise public awareness.[40][41][42][43] However, despite concerns about contamination at street food vendors, the incidence of such is low, with studies showing rates comparable to restaurants.[44]

In 2002, a sampling of 511 street foods in Ghana by the World Health Organization showed that most had microbial counts within the accepted limits,[45] and a different sampling of 15 street foods in Calcutta showed that they were "nutritionally well balanced", providing roughly 200 kcal (Cal) of energy per rupee of cost.[46]

In the United Kingdom, the Food Standards Agency provides comprehensive guidance of food safety for the vendors, traders and retailers of the street food sector.[47] Other effective ways of enhancing the safety of street foods include: mystery shopping programs, training, rewarding programs to vendors, regulatory governing and membership management programs, and technical testing programs.[48][49][50][51][52]

Despite knowledge of the risk factors, actual harm to consumers’ health is yet to be fully proven and understood. Due to difficulties in tracking cases and the lack of disease-reporting systems, follow-up studies proving actual connections between street food consumption and food-borne diseases are still very few. Little attention has been devoted to consumers and their eating habits, behaviors and awareness. The fact that social and geographical origins largely determine consumers’ physiological adaptation and reaction to foods—whether contaminated or not—is neglected in the literature.[53]

In the late 1990s, the United Nations and other organizations began to recognize that street vendors had been an underused method of delivering fortified foods to populations, and in 2007, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization recommended considering methods of adding nutrients and supplements to street foods that are commonly consumed by the particular culture.[44]

See also

A whole street was taken up by street food vendors during the Yasothon Rocket Festival in Thailand.

References

  1. ↑ Artemis P. Simopoulos, Ramesh Venkataramana Bhat. Street Foods. Karger Publishers, 2000. p. vii. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "Spotlight: School Children, Street Food and Micronutrient Deficiencies in Tanzania". Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. February 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
  3. 1 2 The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  4. ↑ Cathy K. Kaufman (2006-08-30). Cooking in Ancient Civilizations. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  5. ↑ Artemis P. Simopoulos. Street Foods. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  6. ↑ Food: The History of Taste. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  7. 1 2 B. W. Higman. How Food Made History. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  8. ↑ Andrew Dalby (2003-06-18). Food in the Ancient World A-Z. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  9. ↑ Linda Civitello (2011-03-29). Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  10. 1 2 Mary Snodgrass - (2004-09-27). Encyclopedia of Kitchen History. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  11. ↑ Mary Snodgrass (2004-09-27). Encyclopedia of Kitchen History. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  12. ↑ "Street Food Around the World". google.com.tr.
  13. ↑ Susan Evans. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  14. 1 2 Long Towell Long, Luis Alberto Vargas. Food Culture In Mexico. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  15. ↑ J. Pilcher (2005-12-20). Food In World History. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  16. ↑ Ken Albala (2011-05-25). Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia. Boo. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  17. ↑ Katherine Leonard Turner. Good Food for Little Money: Food and Cooking Among Urban Working-class ... Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  18. ↑ Artemis P. Simopoulos. Street Foods. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  19. ↑ African American Foodways: Explorations of History and Culture -. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  20. ↑ Andrew F. Smith. Eating History: 30 Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  21. 1 2 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1991: Public Eating : Proceedings. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  22. ↑ Bill Marshall. France and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  23. ↑ Clarissa Dickson Wright. A History of English Food. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  24. ↑ Japanese Foodways, Past and Present. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  25. ↑ Carlo Petrini,. Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures ... Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  26. ↑ David Thompson. Thai Street Food. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  27. ↑ B. W. Higman. How Food Made History. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  28. ↑ Christopher Wanjek. Food At Work: Workplace Solutions For Malnutrition, Obesity And Chronic Diseases. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  29. ↑ Dorling Kindersley. Ultimate Food Journeys: The World's Best Dishes and Where to Eat Them. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  30. ↑ Nina L. Etkin (2009-09-15). Foods of Association: Biocultural Perspectives on Foods and Beverages that ... Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  31. ↑ Esther Ngan-Ling Chow. Women, the Family, and Policy: A Global Perspective. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  32. ↑ Irene Tinker. Street Foods: Urban Food and Employment in Developing Countries. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  33. ↑ Dan Knox, Kevin Hannam. Understanding Tourism: A Critical Introduction. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  34. ↑ Michael Ashkenazi, Jeanne Jacob. Food Culture in Japan. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  35. ↑ Albala, Ken (2011-05-25). Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia [4 volumes]: [Four Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 2–. ISBN 9780313376276. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  36. ↑ Henrike Donner. Being Middle-Class in India: A Way of Life. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  37. 1 2 Globalization of Food Systems in Developing Countries: Impact on Food ... Issue #83. FAO. 2004. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  38. ↑ Start Your Own Food Truck Business - Entrepreneur Press. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  39. ↑ Hoorfar, Jeffrey (2012-06-25). Case Studies in Food Safety and Authenticity: Lessons from Real-Life Situations. Elsevier Science. pp. 182–. ISBN 9780857096937. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  40. ↑ Mukhola, Murembiwa Stanley. "Guidelines for an Environmental Education Training Programme for Street Food Vendors in Polokwane City" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  41. ↑ Mukhola, Murembiwa Stanley. "The thesis contents" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  42. ↑ Lues, Jan F. R.; Rasephei, MR; Venter, P; Theron, MM; et al. (2006). "Assessing food safety and associated food handling practices in street food vending". International Journal of Environmental Health Research 16 (5): 319–328. doi:10.1080/09603120600869141. PMID 16990173.
  43. ↑ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. "The informal food sector" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  44. 1 2 Nina L. Etkin (2009-09-15). Foods of Association: Biocultural Perspectives on Foods and Beverages that. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  45. ↑ Globalization of Food Systems in Developing Countries: Impact on Food ... Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  46. ↑ Artemis P. Simopoulos. Street Foods. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  47. ↑ Food Standards Agency. "Safer food, better business". Retrieved 2007-11-24.
  48. ↑ Sydney Market Limited. "Retailers Support Program". Archived from the original on 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
  49. ↑ Queen Victoria Market. "Food Safety Supervisor Course". Retrieved 2007-11-25. Archived October 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  50. ↑ Green City Market. "Producer Rules and Regulations". Retrieved 2007-11-25.
  51. ↑ Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market. "How To Become A Stallholder". Retrieved 2007-11-27.
  52. ↑ Brisbane Markets Limited. "Chemical residue and microbial testing program for Australia's fresh produce industry" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
  53. ↑ MARRAS S.R. (2014). “Comparative Analysis of Legislative Approaches to Street Food in South American Metropolises.” In Cardoso R., Companion M., Marras S. (eds.). Street Food. Culture, Economy, Health and Governance. London & NY: Routledge. Pp.15-45.

External links

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