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Hecht

Too damn tired
Administrator
Oct 24, 2017
9,726
I really miss living in Seoul for this. So goooood
 

shintoki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,068
I have to go with Thailand for the best street food, better than Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc. 30 baht noodles at night can't be beat, but the variety of dishes, amount, and even some of the international flavors making their way into it.

Vietnam is a second, least variety of the lot, but everything is fucking delicious.

Mexico is a third for me.
 

rAndom

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,866
Street foods are the best. Quick snacks for cheap.

I'm gonna eat a lot of those when I return to the Philippines.
 
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Oct 27, 2017
3,730
Taco stands are the best. I'm glad LA has a solid street food culture with stands and trucks and whatnot, but it could still be better. I marvel at all the street food available in some Asian countries.
 

Raguel

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,275
A food desert is when most of the only food available is street food/fast food/convenience stores and not actual healthy food, like a complete absence of supermarkets

do you know what you're talking about?
Yeah and that doesn't apply to what is discussed here. The street food the OP and most everyone here is talking about are not the processed bullshit fast food you seem to think it is. They're mostly fresh ingredients cooked on the spot. Hence, I don't think you know what you're talking about. Food deserts doesn't apply to a lot of the places OP is also talking about so, yeah, you don't know what you're talking about .
 

Powdered Egg

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
17,070
I really hate that the US food truck industry is so tightly regulated and you need a lot of money (and time waiting for permits!) to even be allowed one. I never got sick from street food in other countries.

If I could just sell my cooking on the street, my student loans would be paid off in 5 years.
 

Raguel

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,275
What? Pretty much all of Asia is a food desert by your definition which is not the case. If you want to talk about some small American town where the only restaurants are a Taco Bell and KFC ya but saying that Asia is pretty much a food desert is like the dumbest thing one can say.

And saying supermarkets like they are some bastion of quality is hilarious. You can get better food in a lot of rural places in Asia than some North American cities and there are no supermarkets in sight.
Yeah the guy is grossly misinformed. Maybe he should actually travel to these places instead of making such a dumb assertion.
 

monapon

Member
Nov 9, 2017
252
A food desert is when most of the only food available is street food/fast food/convenience stores and not actual healthy food, like a complete absence of supermarkets

do you know what you're talking about?

Hmm well luckily most of these areas with good street food in Asia also have great daily street markets with fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, and fish from local farmers in addition to small neighborhood markets with additional fresh items that may not be available from local sources. On top of that, "supermarkets" are also readily available to residents in more urban areas ranging from the grocery section in multistory retailers to smaller single floor international and organic markets in department stores.

Has the concept of a "food desert" even been studied in Asia? The continent itself isn't even listed as a category on the wiki page of food deserts by country.
 

Raguel

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,275
I have to go with Thailand for the best street food, better than Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc. 30 baht noodles at night can't be beat, but the variety of dishes, amount, and even some of the international flavors making their way into it.

Vietnam is a second, least variety of the lot, but everything is fucking delicious.

Mexico is a third for me.
As a Vietnamese, I was not too impressed by the street food there. Probably bc my mom was such a great cook. I still have to visit Thailand though, which I will do next year. My fav is prob Penang, Malaysia (which is where I am at now so many great hawkers) followed by probably Osaka then hong kong, Tokyo (was at the Sakura festival) and then Vietnam.
 
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Zoc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,017
Lots of famous Japanese dishes started off as street food, but that kind of culture is dead/dying. Yakitori, kushidango, grilled fish on a stick, ramen, udon, even tempura was originally street food.

It's mostly relegated to festivals/ food fairs now, but it can be fantastic and super varied. I went to one festival where a guy was holding hot rocks up to a giant wheel of cheese, the scraping the cheese off onto baguettes. Another one was making/steaming pork buns on the spot. Awesome.
 

Raguel

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,275
Lots of famous Japanese dishes started off as street food, but that kind of culture is dead/dying. Yakitori, kushidango, grilled fish on a stick, ramen, udon, even tempura was originally street food.

It's mostly relegated to festivals/ food fairs now, but it can be fantastic and super varied. I went to one festival where a guy was holding hot rocks up to a giant wheel of cheese, the scraping the cheese off onto baguettes. Another one was making/steaming pork buns on the spot. Awesome.
Yeah they're mostly regulated to small hole in the walls now in major cities like Tokyo and Kyoto .
 

Jack Remington

User requested permanent ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,083
Used to be extremely paranoid about this (only times I've been hospitalized have been for food poisoning or pancreas stuff) but at some point I just had to say fuck it there is too much delicious looking stuff around for me to ignore it anymore and just hoped for the best.

I will say the cleaning of like mass amouts of chicken or other meat in open tubs of water out on the street is still gross though.

Yeah, this. Like hell I wasn't going to get street cart samosas when I was in India.

I did eventually get quite sick there, but it wasn't from street food.

Speaking of mass amounts of chicken, when I was in Vietnam, the entrance to my hostel was right across from where chickens were kept and "prepared". I was up early one morning having a coffee and a cigarette, and this guy just sat on a stool killing chicken after chicken. He would stab each one through the throat arteries and hold them upside down while they bled out, then toss them in boiling water. He went through like half a dozen before I was done with my coffee.

Being that up close and personal with it isn't something most of us are exposed to in the U.S. very often.
 

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,276
Sometimes you get sick from traveling just because you are not used to the local flavor of bacteria.
 
OP
OP
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Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,170
Speaking of mass amounts of chicken, when I was in Vietnam, the entrance to my hostel was right across from where chickens were kept and "prepared". I was up early one morning having a coffee and a cigarette, and this guy just sat on a stool killing chicken after chicken. He would stab each one through the throat arteries and hold them upside down while they bled out, then toss them in boiling water. He went through like half a dozen before I was done with my coffee.
lol damn. Yeah that stuff is still easy enough for me to avoid, even if the end product looks great.

In Taiwan I had to basically choose which was the cleanest looking "plastic tub of chicken sitting in milk for who knows how long" before trying that 大鸡排 / giant fried chicken or whatever it's called. (worth it)
 

shintoki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,068
As a Vietnamese, I was not too impressed by the street food there. Probably bc my mom was such a great cook. I still have to visit Thailand though, which I will do next year. My fav is prob Penang, Malaysia (which is where I am at now so many great hawkers) followed by probably Osaka then hong kong, Tokyo (was at the Sakura festival) and then Vietnam.

Vietnamese is definitely my favorite of the Asian dishes. So I'm bias. I thought it was actually really limited in comparison to most of the other countries, but everything I had was great.

Thailand I liked because it had the most diversity with street food. I was finding small places with some Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnam, etc dishes. Bangkok is worth going just for that. And a lot of these places are right next to either huge malls with many stores, smaller hipster joints with international flavor(Mexican, US, Italian, etc).
 

Raguel

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,275
Vietnamese is definitely my favorite of the Asian dishes. So I'm bias. I thought it was actually really limited in comparison to most of the other countries, but everything I had was great.

Thailand I liked because it had the most diversity with street food. I was finding small places with some Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnam, etc dishes. Bangkok is worth going just for that. And a lot of these places are right next to either huge malls with many stores, smaller hipster joints with international flavor(Mexican, US, Italian, etc).
Ah ok. Thailand sounds great. We're going next year .
 

Titik

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,490
LA just legalized informal street food vendors so hopefully it ushers in a new era of street food culture here.

Im not talking about food trucks either but those ladies that sell bacon wrapped hotdogs on makeshift grills in the street corner.
 

Aeriscloud

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,208
Florida
I am so sorry that I did not get to try some of the street vendors in NYC while I was there. This Halal cart/truck on 34th and 8th in Manhattan smelled so damn good every time I walked past it. Very busy as well. NEXT TIME.
 
Oct 25, 2017
1,223
A food desert is when most of the only food available is street food/fast food/convenience stores and not actual healthy food, like a complete absence of supermarkets

do you know what you're talking about?

You are grossly misinformed lmao. The street food culture in Asia also includes whole neighborhoods of fresh fruit and vegetable markets. You can get your steamed bun for breakfast and pick up all your groceries for a fresh lunch on the same corner.
 

Openrob

Member
Nov 5, 2017
636
The UK itself isn't great for this - in your town centre you might find a kebab van or the weird hot dog guy near a club; but it is getting better.

London has pockets of markets with nothing but 'international' Street food. It's usually over priced and considers itself 'artisian' - basically it's a sales pitch to tourists and revelers, not a regular persons everyday option. But not gonna lie, pretty good, just not British.
 

yepyepyep

Member
Oct 25, 2017
703
I loved the random snacking options in Singapore and Malaysia. When I was visiting Penang, I used to always get fresh soy milk to go served in a plastic bag lol. They also had these salted duck egg pastries that me and my sister got obsessed with.
 
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signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,170
I loved the random snacking options in Singapore and Malaysia. When I was visiting Penang, I used to always get fresh soy milk to go served in a plastic bag lol. They also had these salted duck egg pastries that me and my sister got obsessed with.
Man the fresh hot (or cold) soy / peanut milk is so good. Soy less so since that's common enough in Japan (and I don't like it unsweetened that much anyway) but the peanut milk.....the damn peanut milk............
 

jroc74

Member
Oct 27, 2017
28,989
I've noticed this in D.C. the past maybe ten years?

Hot dog stands are being replaced by food trucks, some of it smelling like it's from a restaurant.

You can still find hot dog stands, but food trucks are trying to take over.
 

Plywood

Does not approve of this tag
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,075
street meat is the best
Tbxm.gif
 

UltraGunner

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,213
Los Angeles, CA
Here in LA a lot our street food is regulated to Food Trucks, which somehow have it in their mind to charge 3 times the normal price for food because their stove is on wheels. At least here in Boyle Heights we still got the occasional taco stand and quesadilla carts. Not to mention the raspado man that patrols the neighborhood.
 

Ary F.

Member
Oct 30, 2017
736
I miss Mexico for this exact reason. Madrid is a bit more drab for not having street food.
 

tulpa

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,878
Totally. There's been a few food trucks with excellent, authentic Mexican food open up in the town adjacent to me and I feel like they've already made the culinary landscape so much more exciting. It's pretty much all I want to eat now. Affordable food and better than any of the tired chain restaurants littering the place. I only wish we had more of it, but it's definitely become more of a trend in small towns in the last few years.
 

IDreamOfHime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,410
Its so crazy that the Bangkok council has gone to war with street vendors.
Still not sure what the end game is, but selling as much land for new Malls and Hotels with their inevitable kick backs is high in the agenda.
 

Acquila

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,162
This is something I sorely miss in New Zealand. Street foods are only really available at events/fairs/weekly markets and like half of them involve chips and the minimum passable hotdog sandwich. I'm just lucky that a weekly night market started not too long ago around my area and they have a decent variety.
 
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signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,170
Yes very similar. Just needs a Mexican Coke, fuck I'm hungry now.
Yeah looks great. Is this actually a mexican thing or mexican-american? Most of the videos seem to be in cali

My mouth started watering when I got to the plump sandwich part. Holy crap that looks good.
It's too bad my country does not have this street food culture, not even in bigger cities.
Size is honestly obscene but it looks delicious
 
Oct 28, 2017
27,570
California
Yeah looks great. Is this actually a mexican thing or mexican-american? Most of the videos seem to be in cali


Size is honestly obscene but it looks delicious

Haven't been to Mexico in a while but I'd always go out on the street and hit up the hot dog food carts.

I live in Northern Cali and I don't see those out here, just food trucks.
 

DWarriorSN

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,130
PA
Easily the thing i miss most from PR (outside of family) is the amount of street food available, here in PA there are maybe a couple of food trucks and i hate it.
 

Deleted member 4262

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,633
Yeah we don't have that here at all. I've seen quite a few street food vids on YT and it looks amazing.
 

teacup

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
686
Penang. Such an awesome blend of hawker style stalls, and restaurants. And such a blend of cultures. Indian, Chinese, Malay.... all there. So good.