Without doubt, my favourite thing about visiting new countries and discovering new cultures is getting to try the local food — and eat like a local. You just can’t beat it! Checking out the local street food scene is the ideal way to get your taste buds tingling. So-called ‘street eats’ are usually highly authentic, extremely tasty and freshly prepared. Furthermore, as eating street food is normally much cheaper than dining out in a restaurant, it’s a great way to keep spending to a minimum while travelling.
However, not everyone can just tuck in freely. If you have any kind of dietary concern, condition or intolerance, here’s how you can get your fix of scrumptious street eats without making yourself poorly:
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The biggest queues
One of the best pieces of advice I could give anyone who wants to tuck into street food is to follow the crowds! If a street food vendor is extremely busy and attracts a seemingly never-ending queue, that’s always a good sign. Okay, so you may have to wait a bit longer for your food, but it’ll be worth it. Look for where the locals seem to be queuing up too, not just other tourists. These guys know which vendors can be trusted and which ones may be a little unsavoury!
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Stand back and watch
Another top tip when it comes to telling whether street food is safe to eat, is to simply stand back and watch the vendors for a little while. Are they cleaning their equipment regularly? Is there any risk of cross-contamination? Are they keeping bowls of food covered and away from flies? Keep an eye on them for 5-10 minutes, and you’ll quickly pick up on any unhygienic practices the vendors are using. If they appear to be clean and there’s no risk of cross-contamination, dig in!
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Go veggie
If you’re not vegetarian already, you might wish to consider trying out a few meat-free meals if you want to experience the best street eats on offer. In many regions of India, for example, meat is not a staple part of the local diet and is often only cooked for tourists. When meat is left out in the heat all day, bacteria can multiply at an astounding rate – a recipe for disaster. Eating more like a local, and exploring all the veggie delights in sight, will ensure you avoid eating any infected meats, while also reducing the risk of aggravating any medical conditions or dietary concerns. Vegetarian food can be delicious too, you know!
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Avoid dairy
Again, this tends to only apply in particularly hot countries. Unless the vendors are using condensed milk, dairy products could have been sitting out in the sun for quite a long time. Consuming warm dairy products is a surefire way to give yourself a tummy ache, whether you’re lactose intolerant or not! Keep away from any fresh dairy products and learn how to say ‘no milk’ in the local language if you want to avoid all milk entirely, even condensed. The same goes for any other foods that you may need to avoid, like nuts or gluten.
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Stock up on meds
Finally, if you have a medical condition like diabetes, then you’re definitely going to want to stock up on medication before you go away. It’s recommended that you carry twice as much as you need, just in case you lose your medication or it happens to get damaged. Sometimes you can be super careful with street food, but still find yourself coming down a little unwell, so ttock up on anti-dehydration tablets too, just in case!
Street eats are a real pleasure, but it’s essential to be careful about what you eat when travelling abroad. Follow these top tips and enjoy tucking into a variety of local culinary delights!
Do you have any favourite street foods or tips to add to my list? Let me know in the comments!
This is a good post as lots of my family have food allergies ect so this is good to know.
Glad to hear that you found my post useful 🙂
These are some great tips. When in Cuba, we followed the locals and ate some really great food from places that look so sketchy outside … we’d never have gone in if it weren’t for the queues.
C x
I always keep my eye out for a queue – surefire sign that the food’s gonna be good! 😀
This is a great post, Ash was diagnosed Type 1 just a few months ago so we are both trying to work out the new way things are when it comes to food and just eating on the go.
Aww, sorry to hear that – but glad to hear that the post has helped, if only a little!
Great tips, when I went to Download festival last weekend I decided to go veggie just to see what was on offer without meat although I did have a lot of cheese x
That’s a great idea. I bet you got to eat a much more varied range of meals.
Love the range of food options. Especially that they offer vegetarian foods x
Very true. Veggie food always seems to be plentiful at these kinds of events.
These are great tips and I have to agree with you when it comes to looking at where the locals go to have their food as they know best. We do the same when we travel.
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It’s one of my favourite travel tips 🙂 I love to eat like a local!
It must be that much harder to sample / eat street food when you have dietary concerns. I think trying to go veggie can be a safer option in some places.
I know, I can only imagine how tricky it must be, even in restaurants at times.
stand back and watch is something I always do, just to see how they cook the food and whether it looks nice enough to eat
That’s a really good point – it’s a great way to decide what you want to order.
Great advice and we love sampling food from street vendors and it definitely is a good way to expand taste buds x
Me too! I always get to try a more diverse range of dishes at street food events.
Love the idea of seeing where the queues are and I always go veggie when I’m eating out x
It is a good way to play it safe when it comes to exploring street food in different countries.
Aha well I am a vegetarian so that is a plus point for me. However I agree that avoiding dairy is something I should have done on my trip to Italy because I was sick pretty much most of the time and my stomach was very upset with me because its not good at digesting heavy food aha! Still street eats are always delicious aren’t they?
I do love street food. Such a great way to explore the local cuisine!
My worst nightmare would be eating street food if I had allergies, it must be so tricky especially in foreign climes
I know, it must be so confusing knowing what you can and can’t eat.
Some great info here – especially the queue tip, I’d not considered that before. I ate a fair bit of street food when I was in Mexico and Colombia, and thankfully didn’t have any problems with my tummy 😛 x
I love street food, it’s just you have to be careful what you eat sometimes. I avoided it in India as I was only there for two weeks so I didn’t want to get ill and ruin my trip, but with hindsight, I wish I’d been a little more adventurous.
There’s some great tips here! I don’t have any food allergies myself but it’s always useful to know
Yeah, I think even if you don’t have a food allergy, the tip about drinking bottled water in certain countries is really handy to know.