Street food is awesome. But you need to know what you're doing.
Street food is where you can find the local way of life and really begin to immerse yourself in the local culture. However, for us travelers with weak stomachs, we have to be careful. While I find street food to be such an important way of engaging with locals and their local specialties, I don't recommend eating it every single day. Your outsider stomach just doesn't have the same gut bacteria as the locals, and certain foods will be harder for you to handle. Having said that, this isn't the time to turn up your nose at something because you think it looks weird. Besides losing out on awesome food, you may end up offending people by refusing to try things. My motto is to try everything once, even if it's just a bite (unless I'm allergic to it; which is a whole other situation-have you ever tried explaining an allergy in gestures?). The main thing with street food is to go where the locals go and scope out stalls before you try their food. Here's how I've enjoyed street food safely when visiting a place for a few days or longer:
Having said all that-- it really comes down to personal choice and awareness. If you see something about a stall that makes you uncomfortable- don't eat there. As all the guide books say, "if you decide to eat street food you are doing so at your own risk", but in my experience, that risk is (usually) far outweighed by the amazing food and connections you can make, even with just one meal. :) Comments are closed.
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February 2022
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