Eat Cheap, Top 7 Street Foods Around the World
- Arepas, Venezuela – The corn bread arepa is a flat patty made of cornmeal which can be grilled, baked, or fried. It’s then stuffed with an array of ingredients, depending on where your getting it from it might have, carne (meat), black beans, cheeses or plantain. If your travelling around Venezuela on bus these will become a stable food for you.
- Coxinha, Brazil – Again an ideal snack to keep you going on the inevitable long bus journeys, these deep fried teardrop shaped snacks are greasy but delicious, top with a bit of ketchup as the brazilians do to take it to another level. Made from shredded chicken and spices, enclosed in wheat flour batter, and deep fried. The shape comes from the original way coxinhas where made using chicken thighs, coxinha literally means “little thigh”. There are controversies about the right way to eat a Coxinha. Some say it should be eaten from the base, resembling an ice cream cone, while others say it should be eaten from the top. Either way its great!
- French Baguettes, Vietnam – The French colonial era left a big impact on Vietnam, none better in my opinion than the readily available baguette stands selling a great selection of Asian fillings creating great fusion cuisine for next to nothing.
- BBQ Chicken Satay, Indonesia - Cooked over hot coals, powered by flapping a piece of card, the BBQ chicken satay is cheap and delicious, found all over Indonesia, makes a welcome change from Nasi Goreng!
- Boiled Quail Eggs, Vietnam – Nothing accompanies a nice Bia Hoi better than a bag of boiled quails eggs, you won’t be short of choice for beer snacks when drinking on the stalls in a Vietnamese city but i don’t think you can beat unpeeling and salting a bag of quail eggs, as cheap as chips.
- Meat on a stick, Venezuela – The Venezuelans love their street food, head to any square in the evening and you’ll find a huge amount of interesting foods on sticks being barbecued, highly recommended are the juicy kebabs.
- Pad Thai, Thailand – Super fast and cheap, Pad Thai is whipped up on road side stands all over Thailand but it seems no where more popular than on the Khao San Road, combine with some spring rolls and it truly is a bargain basement feast!
The towns of Cyprus may be bustling and brightly lit, but book Car Hire Cyprus, drive out of town and discover a world of medieval castles and ancient monuments.
From Pakistan you can add ‘Samosay’ whose shape are like Coxinha of Brazil but big in size. There crust is crispy instead of soft and filled with spiced potatoes mostly, however you can also find beef mince in them (mince one will be small in size or high in price;)). Normally it will cost you only PKR 10/- per piece. Two pieces can become a good snack for one time.
Exchange rate nowadays is approximately USD 1.00 = PKR 85.00
its indian
Chicken Shawarma made a fine streetside snack when I was in the UAE. Think it’s pretty common elsewhere in the middle East too. Certainly beats the drunken 2pm high street kebabs that we get used to in the UK!
I am a fan of street food. As you already mentioned above. It is cheap. You can save time. But I always look for a busy place, if I decide to get street food, especially in Vietnam.
Coxinha’s are amazing… one of those and some sugary fruit juice and you’re set for the day!
Thanks,
Paul @
TravMonkey.com
I think street food is really part of Asian culture. Just like in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, there are numerous good street food offerings in the Philippines. You should try it when you visit the country. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it..
Oh, man I’m starving right now and I’ve just found your post… What a torture! However I would be pleased to read more about street food from all over the world – can I ask for part 2?
Hm, think the meat on a stick would be my first choice. Here in Turkey we have the street sellers selling sweetcorn. Kinda got put off when I saw the personal hygiene of one of them.
If you ever visit Korea, be sure to try the egg sandwiches……….my favorite street food here on the ROK.
My latest post over at BTS is filled with photos of Beijing street food.
Good list I need to try some of those things
Maybe you could link to recipes ?
Only thing you missed… Turkish Kebabs … Yummy
Wow the corn bread and BBQ chicken satay sticks look absolutely amazing!! Completely agree with Natalie however in that hygiene would definitely be my preference over yummy food!
Thanks for sharing great post
The cleanliness of our every day eating environment means that stepping even slightly outside of our comfort zones can be a very daunting thing however, we don’t want to be missing out on the delights that these places have to offer.
From Bangladesh
If you dont mention ‘singara’ a triangular fried item, it will be quite wrong. In Bangladesh, where the population is 150 million, it is sold in all roadside fried item shops. It has a crispy cover of flour with ‘masala’ potato inside.
If you want I can send you pics.
Shabbir Ahmed
Bangladesh
Great post. It brings back a lot of memories about the time when I was staying in Bangkok. I ate a lot of Pad Thai back then… Very yummy.