The 25 Best Street Foods in the World
The world’s best cooking rarely happens behind white tablecloths. It happens on corners, at night markets, out of carts with thirty years of seasoning on the griddle. These are the 25 best street foods in the world, each linked to an authentic recipe for when the craving arrives at home.
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Tacos al Pastor
MexicoPork on a vertical spit, brought to Mexico by Lebanese migrants and given pineapple.
Say hello to Tacos al Pastor, one of Mexico's most iconic street foods and a true feast for the senses. Thin slices of marinated pork meet sweet, charred pineapple, all wrapped in a warm tortilla and finished with onion, coriander …
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Bánh Mì
VietnamBaguette with pâté, pickled vegetables and coriander. The best thing colonialism left behind.
Meet Banh Mi, the very good Vietnamese sandwich that packs a whole world of flavour into a single crisp baguette. The name simply means fresh bread, and that crackling crust is the canvas for savoury meat, pickled vegetables, …
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Pad Thai
ThailandPromoted by the Thai government from 1938 as a nationalist project. It worked.
Pad Thai is a government project. In the late 1930s Thailand's prime minister promoted it as part of a nationalist campaign to build a Thai identity and reduce rice consumption, and recipes were distributed by the state. It …
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Falafel
LebanonGround chickpeas, never cooked ones, fried in balls. Egypt uses broad beans instead.
Few dishes capture the warmth of Lebanese cuisine quite like falafel. These little deep-fried chickpea balls are crisp on the outside, fragrant and tender within, and beloved far beyond the Middle East. Spiced with cumin and …
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Pani Puri
IndiaA hollow crisp sphere filled with spiced water. Eaten whole, in one, or it collapses.
Discover Pani Puri, the very good street-food snack of India. These tiny, crisp hollow shells are filled with a spiced potato mixture and topped with cooling coriander water, bringing together sweet, sour and fiery notes in a …
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Pupusas
El SalvadorThick masa cakes stuffed with cheese and pork, griddled and served with curtido.
Pupusas are stuffed maize flatbreads, griddled until they blister, and they come with curtido, a sharp fermented cabbage slaw, which is not optional. El Salvador has a national Pupusa Day on the second Sunday of November.
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Simit
TurkeySesame rings dipped in grape molasses. Sold from red carts on every Turkish street.
Discover Simit, one of Turkey's most beloved baked treats. This crisp sesame ring is a familiar sight on street corners and breakfast tables across the country, prized for its golden crust and chewy crumb. Wonderfully fragrant …
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Currywurst
GermanySausage with ketchup and curry powder, invented in Berlin in 1949. There is a museum.
Discover Currywurst, one of Germany's most iconic and best-loved street foods. Born on the snack stalls of post-war Berlin, this cheerful dish pairs sizzling bratwurst with a tangy, spiced curry sauce that turns a simple sausage …
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Khachapuri
GeorgiaCheese bread, sold hot and folded in paper. The Adjarian version arrives with a raw egg.
Khachapuri is bread and cheese, and the Adjarian version is a boat with an egg yolk in the middle that you stir into the molten cheese at the table. It arrives too hot to eat and nobody waits.
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Takoyaki
JapanBatter balls with octopus, turned with a pick in a dimpled iron plate. Molten inside.
Discover Takoyaki, one of Japan's best-loved street foods. These little golden balls hide a piece of tender octopus inside a soft, savoury batter, all crisped up in a special moulded pan. Finished with a glossy sauce, a drizzle of …
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Tteokbokki
South KoreaChewy rice cakes in gochujang sauce, sold from carts and eaten with a wooden skewer.
Discover Tteokbokki, one of South Korea's most-loved street foods. Chewy rice cakes are simmered in a glossy, fiery-sweet sauce until they soak up every drop of flavour. Equal parts spicy and moreish, it is the kind of dish you …
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Doubles
Trinidad and TobagoCurried chickpeas between two soft fried baras. Trinidad's breakfast, ordered by pepper level.
Discover doubles, the street food that Trinidad and Tobago calls its own. Two pillowy fried flatbreads, known as bara, are piled high with a fragrant curried chickpea filling and finished with hot sauce or tangy pickles. It is …
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Jerk Pork
JamaicaSmoked in a split oil drum over pimento wood, chopped with a cleaver and sold by weight.
Discover Jerk Pork, the smoky, fiery pride of Jamaica. This is far more than a plate of grilled meat. It is a taste of the island itself, where tender pork is steeped in a bold blend of spices that balance searing heat with a …
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Gyros
GreeceMeat off the spit with chips inside the pita. Greece considers the chips non-negotiable.
Discover Gyros, the dish that more than any other captures the flavour of Greece. Marinated meat, slowly grilled until golden and tucked into warm pita with crisp salad, onion and tomato, it is street food at its most satisfying. …
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Satay
IndonesiaSkewers grilled over charcoal with peanut sauce. Indonesia has hundreds of regional versions.
Discover Satay, the beloved national dish of Indonesia. Tender, charred skewers bathed in a seductive peanut sauce bring a wave of exotic aromas to your table. These fragrant grilled skewers are a very good crowd-pleaser that turn …
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Poutine
CanadaChips, curds, gravy. Ordered at 3am and defended at any hour.
Poutine is chips, cheese curds and gravy, and the curds have to squeak. That is the test. Grated cheddar melts into a blanket, which is a different and lesser thing. Proper curds hold their shape and go soft in the middle while …
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Arepas Rellenas
VenezuelaSplit maize cakes stuffed with shredded beef, cheese or avocado, each filling with its own name.
Discover Arepas Rellenas, the national dish of Venezuela. These golden maize pockets crackle on the outside and stay wonderfully soft within, ready to be split open and packed with shredded beef, spiced beans, fresh cheese or …
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Ta'ameya
EgyptEgypt's falafel, made with broad beans instead of chickpeas. Greener and softer inside.
Say hello to Taameya, Egypt's very good take on falafel. Unlike the chickpea version found elsewhere, this beloved street food is built around fava beans, giving it a wonderfully creamy centre beneath a deeply golden, crunchy …
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Suya
NigeriaBeef rubbed with ground peanut and spice, grilled and served with raw onion.
Meet Suya, one of Nigeria's best-loved street foods. Skewers of marinated meat are grilled over glowing coals until smoky and tender, then coated in a punchy blend of ground peanuts and warm spices. Smoky, nutty and gently fiery, …
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Anticuchos
PeruBeef heart marinated in ají panca and grilled on skewers. Peru's oldest street food.
Meet Anticuchos, one of Peru's most beloved street-food treats. These marinated, char-grilled skewers pack the smoky, punchy flavours you will find sizzling on street corners across the country. Traditionally made with beef heart, …
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Fish Balls
PhilippinesFried and skewered, dipped in a communal pot of sweet or spicy sauce. Sold outside schools.
Discover fish balls, one of the Philippines' most beloved street-food snacks. These small, springy rounds of seasoned fish are sold from carts on practically every busy corner, skewered on bamboo sticks and dunked into bold …
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Frites
BelgiumTwice-fried in beef fat, in a paper cone with sauce. Belgium claims them and has a case.
Moules-Frites is mussels steamed in a pot and chips fried alongside, and the Belgian position is that the chips are not a side dish. They are half the dish. Anyone who serves the mussels with bread instead has made something else.
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Stroopwafels
NetherlandsTwo thin waffles pressed around caramel syrup. Bought warm off the iron at a market.
Fancy a sweet little indulgence? Say hello to stroopwafels, the Netherlands' best-loved treat, two wafer-thin waffles pressed together around a layer of warm, sticky caramel. Beloved by sweet tooths the world over, they are the …
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Arepa de Choclo
ColombiaSweet corn arepa griddled and folded around melting cheese.
Say hello to the Arepa de Choclo, a sweet-corn favourite that turns up on breakfast tables and street stalls all across Colombia. These golden little cakes are made from tender kernels of sweet corn, blended into a soft batter and …
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Hot Dog
USAGerman sausage in an American bun, sold from carts since the 1860s.
Few dishes capture the spirit of American food quite like the hot dog. A juicy sausage tucked into a soft bun and crowned with whatever toppings you fancy, it is the kind of casual, crowd-pleasing fare that turns up at backyard …
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