Whether you’re on a short term or long term trip, enjoying local street food is an amazing way to connect to the local culture and save some cash. That said, you’ve likely heard the stories from friends/family/friends-of-friends about their food poisoning experiences from street food during their own travels..
With this in mind, and my own experiences, I wanted to share a handy guide on how to eat street food safely; providing you tips and tricks and help you enjoy the unique insight into local cultures while also being safe during exploring the local street food scene.
How to eat street food safely while travelling
I totally get it, being holed up for 3-days feeling wretched and stuck only consuming water during your trip is an awful experience. Luckily (so far *touch wood*) I’ve only had a couple of issues from what I’ve consumed while travelling.
To help with you next trip, it’s worth keeping these tips on how to safely eat street food while travelling in mind:
Look out for busy vendors with high numbers of punters
A busy queue full of locals waiting to be served is a good indicator a vendor is popular and a great opportunity to eat like a local. This isn’t to say empty vendors don’t/won’t offer amazing food experiences, but, if other vendor(s) nearby are busy and ‘your’ one isn’t it’s worth considering why.
Another reason to look out for busy vendors is the food is more likely to be fresh. Food vendors with a high turnover of customers will be having to cook more and need to replace their ingredients each day (if not even more frequently), however, those that are less busy will try to use the previous day(s) ingredients again…which in come places where refrigeration conditions are poor can be a cause for alarm.
Check the hygiene of the vendor and surrounding area
It’s always good to look around and meander through food stalls, this isn’t just a chance to see what you fancy to eat but also to review hygiene vendors and the surrounding area. Check to see that vendors are handling food safely – avoiding cross contamination – and cleanliness of the stalls.
Avoid eating raw or undercooked meats and foods
Raw or undercooked foods can carry harmful bacteria or even parasites, and if you’ve ever had undercooked chicken before you’ll know the aftermath. With this in mind, it’s best to avoid raw or undercooked options when trying street food; this goes for seafood just as much as meats.
Stick to well cooked, hot, and fresh dishes where possible as this gives you the best chance of not picking up a nasty stomach bug. However, also be sure to trust your sense of smell and if it tastes or smells off discard it.
Avoid fresh dairy where you can
If you’ve ever left the milk out on a warm day you’ll know just how quickly it can turn sour. For similar reasons it’s best to avoid fresh dairy when eating at food vendor stalls, as it can be hard for them to keep it chilled and prevent harmful bacteria from developing in the dairy.
Luckily, a lot of vendors use UHT, pasteurised, or condensed milk when using dairy in dishes, which is heated to high temperatures to kill off bacteria and is okay to consume.
Make vegetarian foods your preference
Some countries, such as India, have quite vegetarian diets due to cultural and religious reasons, with meat options reserved for visitors or special occasions. As such, this can mean meat and dairy are left sitting around for extended periods of time until it is finally cooked, and potentially lead to many issues should you consume poorly stored, prepared, and cooked “old” meats.
When you are in an area that has less of a meat diet, this is a great opportunity to sample local vegetarian delicacies and really immerse yourself in the local food scene.
Be mindful of the water used for cooking and washing
Contaminated and unsafe tap water can be a leading cause of illnesses when travelling. With countries having different levels of sanitation and types of pathogens present, it’s important to be mindful of the water used for cooking and washing food.
If you’re unsure if the tap water in your destination is safe, it’s best to stick to bottled water, check your embassy guidance for travel in the area, or even use apps such as FaucetSafe to get an idea on the water quality where you are.
However, when buying bottled water, be sure to check the seals on the bottle before purchasing and taking a sip. Though unlikely, it is possible the bottle has been tampered with or refilled using local tap water to cut costs.
If you’re unsure either of the local tap water or the ability to buy safe bottled water (or want to rescue your plastic waste), it’s worth investing in a water bottle with a filtration system. With one of the best being the LifeStraw Go 1L bottle and filter.
Pass on fresh salads and unpeeled fruits
For similar reasons to avoiding tap water, fresh salads and ingredients should be avoided at all costs, as they’re likely to have been washed and prepared using tap water. These cleaning processes can contaminate the ingredients with unsanitary water and lead to a world of issues…and includes mint or other garnishes for cocktails.
Similarly, it’s best to avoid unpeeled fruits and vegetables when travelling as (again) they’ve likely been washed or prepared using tap water, however, if the ingredient is peeled there’s less likely to be any contamination.
Avoid ice in drinks
Ice is the bug bear for so many people when travelling, leading to stomach issues and potentially a ruined trip in just a couple of sips from a contaminated drink. Unless the ice is filtered (typically looks like it has been sliced and comes in professional packaging), it’s best to avoid ice in its entirety when trying street food food and drinks.
Trust your sense of smell
Before taking a bite or sip, take a whiff of what you’ve ordered and judge whether it smells right to you. If the food or drink doesn’t smell quite right than bin it, it’s way better to lose a couple of quid than have to spend days on a toilet and ruin your entire trip.
Use your senses and commonsense, don’t ruin your trip by ignoring something that doesn’t look, smell or feel right.
Keep your hand hygiene well maintained
Though street vendors take the brunt of people looking for someone/something to blame if someone gets sick after visiting them, it’s not always their fault. Bacteria and viruses can easily spread (hell, we just had 2+ years experiencing this globally) so it could be that you got/get sick from not practising your own hygiene.
Be sure to wash your hands frequently and before you handle your food, using hand rubs or soap and clean water to avoid making yourself ill. Additionally, you nails can pick up heaps of dirt when you travel, be sure to keep them neat and tidy to avoid carrying pathogens around.
Use apps and maps to find street food hubs
Where there’s street food there’s likely to be activity. Using Google Maps or Foursquare you can track down the busiest places in a city or destination, typically these will be in quite foodie areas and close to markets or local attractions and workplaces.
Other ways to find great street food is to use Foodspotter, Yelp, researching local food bloggers or even heading to instagram to see what is under the street food hashtags in your chosen destination.
Get local (and fellow traveller) recommendations
Personally, I like to chat with the staff when I get to a hostel/hotel and see what food places they recommend and enjoy going to – even better when they are locals and grew up in the area. Similarly, if I go on a walking tour I’ll try to have a chat with the guide(s) and see where they recommend going.
Alternatively, you can get good tips from other travellers who have already been exploring the area, often they’ll be keen to share what they’ve found and give tips on where to go and where to avoid.
Get it made fresh
It can be tempting to just take what you’re given and not cause a scene when ordering, but with health at stake it’s always worth checking and asking for your order to be made fresh and in front of you. You never know how long ingredients have been sitting there or what has touched them whilst they’ve waited to be used, and if they refuse, you can just walk away.
A good example of this is at burger stands that cook raw food close to/in the same area as cooked food, heightening the chances of cross contamination or leading to your order being dry and overdone.
Enjoy exploring the street food scene
I get it, the amount and variation of tips in the post make it seem like you’re inevitably going to get sick. However, if you follow these tips and use your common sense and senses, you’ll be just fine and be able to have an amazing time sampling local cuisines and delicacies.
Experiencing the vibrant food cultures in destinations is a really great way to get to know and explore a place, so see street food and their local bites as part of the fun, with being sensible and smart part of the journey.
Hopefully this post and guide gives you the tools to enjoy the most incredible street food experiences. If you’re after further information on staying healthy whilst travelling, visit Fit For Travel which provides a great list of things to look out for and consider when travelling.
If you have any more tips you would like to share, please do let me know by adding them in the comments. I love to hear from you about your experiences and thoughts, and it’s even better when I can share these with others.
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