Food On The Street
It's a proven fact that food tastes better on the street—and these are the best street foods from around the world.
Acarajé - Brazil
A dish with West African origins, acarajé is made of peeled cowpeas packed into a ball and deep fried, often stuffed with a savory shrimp paste.
Aloo chaat - Northern India
Potatoes fried in oil with a blend of spices and chutney. Simple and delicious.
Anticucho - Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador
Also called chuzos or carne en pailito, anticuchos are a cheap, popular street food in countries around the Andes mountains. Picture shish-kebabs, Quechua style.
Arancini - Sicily
You're in Sicily, sitting by the water, and enjoying a cappuccino and arancini, a breaded, deep-friend ball of rice stuffed with ragu and mozzarella. Not bad, if you ask me.
Arepa - Venezuela, Colombia
Arepas are made of special soaked, ground maize kernels and can be grilled, friend, baked, boiled, or steamed and stuffed with whatever you want: butter, cheese, meat, avocado, vegetables—or how about all of them together!
Andreadlserrano, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Asinan - Indonesia
Pickles, Indonesian style - from the Indonesian word for "salty," you can have a savoury vegetable asinan or a sweet fruit asinan, take your pick, but they're all soaked in a salty brine.
Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bagel - Poland, New York City
Originating in Jewish communities in Poland, the classic boiled-then-baked golden rings eventually became an iconic street food in New York City—and then pretty much everywhere else. They're that good.
Bakso - Indonesia
An Indonesian meatball soup, the balls are usually made of finely ground beef and tapioca flour, but you can substitute other meats. The soup is so popular, you can get it everywhere from street vendors to gourmet restaurants.
Banana Cue - Philippines
Deep fry a banana. Coat it in brown sugar. Serve it on a skewer. You've made a banana cue—but I doubt it's as good as what you'd get on the streets in the Philippines.
FBenjr123, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bánh Canh - Vietnam
"Bánh" means "dough" and "canh" means "soup". In this case, the dough is the tapioca dough in bánh canh's thick noodles. The soup is...pretty much whatever you want! Usually fish, pork, or shrimp.
Bánh Hỏi - Vietnam
Bánh hỏi looks like a woven bundle of rice noodles. It's made by forcing cooked rice flour through a cylinder with lots of tiny holes in the bottom, creating a dense mat of rice noodles, which are then steamed.
It's usually served cold with scallions or garlic chives.
Ngô Trung, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Baozi - China, Southeast/East Asia
Sometimes called bao, these simple flour, water, and yeast buns are steamed, not baked or boiled, giving them their iconic fluffy texture. Stuff one of these buns with pretty much anything and I bet it'll taste good.
Batagor - Indonesia
Batagor isn't an Indonesian word—it's an abbreviation of three Indonesian words: bakso tahu goreng. That means "friend tofu and meatballs". That pretty much covers it! The meat is usually fish, and they're usually served with peanut sauce.
Ignatiaadela, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Batata Vada - Maharashtra, India
A vegetarian fast food made of mashed spiced potatoes shaped into a patty, coated in chickpea flour, deep-friend and served with chutney. I could eat a million of them.
Beondegi - South Korea
You'd assume people only eat boiled/steamed silkworm larvae because it's a 1,000-year-old Korean tradition. Nope. People mostly started eating beondegi in the 60s. Haven't tried it, so I can't knock it!
Bhelpuri - India
An iconic "beach snack" of Mumbai, India, bhelpuri is made of crunchy puffed rice, veggies, and a tangy tamarind sauce.
Bibingka - Philippines
If you want to make bibingka at home, you're going to need a terra cotta bowl and banana leaves, so you'd better head to the grocery store.
A rice dough is poured in the leaf-lined pot, then covered and left to cook, making spongy, savoury cake served especially around Christmas.
Blueriver123, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bramborák - Czechia
After drinking your fill of Pilsner Urquell in Prague, stumble out into the streets and order a bramborák - Czechia's finest fried potato pancakes.
Benreis, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bratwurst - Germany
Though hot dogs have taken over street food carts everywhere, there can only be one original, and it's a Bratwurst ordered on the street in Germany.
Breakfast Burrito - United States
Invented in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the breakfast burrito—eggs, friend potatoes, and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla—may not have a history, but take one bite and tell me that matters.
Bubur Ayam - Indonesia
An Indonesian congee porridge made of rice and shredded chicken, it's served with cakwee (fried dough), sambal hot sauce, soy sauce, spices, and more. If you're ever having a bad morning and you can order some—do it.
Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bun Kabab - Pakistan
An iconic food in Karachi but found all over Pakistan, bun kebabs, or anday wala burgers, are savoury sandwiches with a fried spicy meat patty called "shami kabab" with chutney and spices.
Bunny Chow - South Africa
It's not just a fun name! Bunny chow, or just bunny, is curry served in a hollowed-out loaf of white bread. So it's...exactly what it looks like.
Robert Rutherford, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Carrozza - Campania, Italy
A grilled cheese jacked up a notch from Campania, Italy. Picture a grilled cheese...that's deep friend. Genius.
Cendol - Malaysia
The rice flour jelly noodles in cendol might look like little green slugs—but that color just comes from pandan, a Southeast Asian plant with fragrant, bright green leaves.
Mix those with coconut milk, palm sugar syrup, and some sweet fruit? You've got one heckuva street food right there.
Yuvaqueen, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Ceviche - Peru
Japan doesn't have a monopoly on raw fish! Ceviche, which is fish or shellfish cured in citrus juice and seasoned, is the national dish of Peru, but it's found all over South and Central America.
Chai Tow Kway - China, Singapore, Southeast Asia
They call chai tow kway "carrot cake" in Singapore—but that's just because it sounds kinda like "carrot cake".
There's no carrots in it at all—just stir-friend radish cake cubes.
Chicharrón - Spain, Latin and South America
Chicharrón are very easy to explain: They're deep fried pork rinds. As for what they're like? You've got to taste them to really understand that.
Chiko Roll - Australia
Australian Frank McEnroe's Chinese spring roll-inspired "Chicken Rolls" first hit the market in 1951. It's a good thing they changed the name to Chiko Roll, because there's no chicken in them.
A Chiko roll is similar to a traditional chinese spring roll of cabbage, carrot, barley, etc., but their thick coating was specially designed to survive on the go eating—even at raucous Australian football matches!
Chandravathanaa, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Chimichanga - Southwestern United States
Another Southwest classic, the chimichanga is a simple one: it's a deep fried burrito. You can play with it from there, but if that's your starting point? It's hard to go wrong.
