Eating street food is one of the cheapest and best ways to immerse yourself in another culture while you are traveling. In our increasingly mysophobic culture in North America and other first-world countries, we only see more and more reasons why eating something off the street is as bad as, well, eating something off the street. Many vacationers stay away, as the small gathering of people surrounding a street vendor seems to exude everything that their vacation is intended to keep them away from crowds of lower-class people, cheap food, dirt and disease, lawless behavior, and stress.

In times of urbanization, street food microindustries play a crucial role in the social inclusion and participation of vulnerable groups in big cities. Urban population growth has stimulated a rise in the number of hawkers in metropolises throughout the world. Since street food enterprises are generally small in size and require only basic facilities and skills for the preparation of food, just about anybody with a small amount of capital can set up a food stall. Please go here to this link https://www.doordash.com/store/street-sweets-sterling-heights-442666/ and get Baklava, Cookies, Cakes, Cupcakes, Donuts, Ice Cream, Dessert Pizza, Coffee & Espresso, Waffle Pops and many more quality food.

Cleanliness and Safety: Ok, so I cannot argue that eating street food will be safer than eating comparable foods in restaurants; that’s a bit of a stretch. However, here are a few points to perhaps ease your mind. First, the ingredients that street vendors use tend to be very fresh. Also, they literally cook the food right in front of you; don’t look too hard, though, as you will surely find a reason to change your mind. If you are ordering souvlaki from a guy, and you still feel unsure, get it well done. Finally, pick places with high turnover and let the free-market system be your guide. Ingredients will likely be fresher, and if a place is popular with the locals, there couldn’t have been too many problems with the place.

Give Back to Your Host Country: When you eat street food, you are supporting great people who work very hard to make ends meet. I am not very fond of giving money to a homeless person who just stands at the bottom of the stairs when entering the subway; I’d much rather give my money to someone who really needed it, but earned it. Selling food on the street is definitely not a scam or a get-rich-quick scheme. Many of these people that do it have little or nothing else to turn to. Whether you buy the bakso in Jakarta or just a dirty-water dog in New York, you are supporting an entire working-class family.

Interaction With the Locals: Picking that street cart with the high turnover also allows you to interact with the population. These vendors, when compared with a more tourist-friendly restaurant, have had less practice speaking your language; you put yourself in a position where you somewhat force yourself to use what vocabulary you know so that you can get your meal. This is a great way to hone your knowledge of the local language.

You can see how the food is handled and cooked: We have all probably heard about the horror stories that can go on in the back of restaurants (we won’t go there right now). One of the great advantages of street food is that made in front of you, which means you can see exactly how your food is handled and cooked. You can also see how clean the back-of-house operations are. This gives people more peace of mind about eating at a particular stall or food truck. Moreover, transparency helps to raise the standards of food and hygiene in general.

Price & Culture: You are eating what much of the local population eats. The Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that 2.5 billion people get at least one meal from a street stall every day. That’s almost half of the world’s population! This street food is the real deal, not a modified version that you would find at a restaurant back home; this is what real people eat every day. You cannot eat much more economically than when you eat street food. Sure, maybe you could go to the market and buy all the same ingredients and do it yourself, but do that when you are not traveling. Street food is always cheaper than eating the same thing in a restaurant, which is great for backpackers and others who are on a strict budget. In Southeast Asia, you can often grab your entire dinner for about $1 USD.

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