16 Facts About Street food

Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs.

The types of street food widely vary between regions and cultures in different countries around the world.

Evidence of a large number of street food vendors was discovered during the excavation of Pompeii.

Street food was widely consumed by poor urban residents of ancient Rome whose tenement homes did not have ovens or hearths.

Street food continues to play a major role in Chinese cuisine with regional street food generating a strong interest in culinary tourism.

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In Indonesia — especially Java, traveling Street food and drink vendors have a long history, as they were described in temples bas reliefs dated from 9th century, as well as mentioned in 14th century inscription as a line of work.

The current proliferation of Indonesia's vigorous street food culture is contributed by the massive urbanization in recent decades that has opened opportunities in food service sectors.

Street food vending is found all around the world, but varies greatly between regions and cultures.

Indonesian street food is a diverse mix of local Indonesian, Chinese, and Dutch influences.

Some more popular street food dishes are vada pav, misal pav, chole bhature, parathas, bhel puri, sev puri, gol gappa, aloo tikki, kebabs, tandoori chicken, samosas, kachori, idli, pohe, egg bhurji, pav bhaji, pulaw, pakora, lassi, kulfi and falooda.

Mexican street food is known as antojitos and features several varieties of tacos, such as tacos al pastor, as well as huaraches and other maize based foods.

New York City's signature street food is the hot dog, but New York street food includes everything from spicy Middle Eastern falafel or Jamaican jerk chicken to Belgian waffles.

In Tanzania's Dar es Salaam region, street food vendors produce economic benefits beyond their families.

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.

Libertarian Reason magazine states that in US cities, Street food trucks are subject to regulations designed to prevent them from competing with brick and mortar restaurants.

In Singapore, street food vendors known as "hawkers", over half of which were unlicensed, were considered "primarily a nuisance to be removed from the streets".