Street Foods (PDF)

This publication focuses on street foods in selected developed and developing countries, including information on nutritional, economic, safety and regulatory aspects and comparing consumption patterns as well as the profiles of the street food vendor in different cultures. Street foods are inexpensive and available foods that in many countries form an integral part of the diet because they are consumed with regularity and consistency across all income groups, but particularly among the urban poor and, in some countries, children. International organizations have paid particular attention to the safety of street foods and much less to the composition and preservation of their nutritional quality. The street food trade is large and complex, providing an important means of generating income, particularly for women, and it is an affordable source of food for many millions of people. Street foods have therefore been considered as a way of reducing problems of urban food insecurity and as a possible vehicle for micronutrient supplementation. Scientists and policy makers in the areas of international health, nutrition, food and trade as well as physicians, nutritionists, dietitians, food scientists, anthropologists, sociologists will particularly benefit from this publication.