In Praise of Street Food

Chuck of Travel by Food wrote recently to remind us of all the wonderful things we've managed to keep down our gullets during vacation (we tend to overlook the stuff that didn't quite stay down, don't we?). Truth is, there is nothing like sitting down on a bench after a long walk and scarfing down a cone full of golden Belgian Frites crowned with a dollop of real mayo, or letting a new herring speckled with bits of freshly chopped onion slide down your partched throat. Yes, I travel by food, sometimes.

Chuck's web site is devoted to submitted pictures of street food and ratings for the places that serve it up. Sounds like a good idea to me, except for the fact that part of the fun of street food is the surprise of seeing folks eating from an unmarked truck full of food-like objects you don't know how to order on account of your lack of language skills--so you point and hope you're doing the right thing. Ratings? Do we have to plan everything we do? Can't we experience the joy of finding the perfect 10 food by ourselves--even if we find out later it's made from toad spit and lamb spleen? Or am I ranting because I was born under the sign of the Bull?

What's your favorite European street food? Mine is Itay's Porchetta, wood roasted whole young pig that's served from a truck during market day.

Have you learned much animal anatomy from the stuff sizzling away on charcoal grills on Turkish streets? Do you slug down fish and chips on the streets of Cadiz, where the dish was invented, according to the Cadizians? Do you buy your summer fruits and vegetables from Eastern Europe's bus stops? Come clean in the comments, unless you've been eating at a really dirty bus stop.

Street Foods on About: Holland's New Herring Harvest Festival | Mediterranean Street Food (book review) | Asia's Best Street Food | Arancini di Riso - Street Food of Sicily | Bangkok Street Vendor Noodles | Make Your Own Porchetta!