Street food

“Overeater night in a night market.” A Facebook “on this day” post was shown up a few days ago. It was a great night when I went to a local night market with a friend from the Philippines.

In Asia, there are several well-known night markets and you can surely have lots of fun. Additionally, you can easily find some good street food in a night market and street food is quite common.

However, for some people, they like to eat in a restaurant, in particular, in a restaurant that looks clean. Before traveling, some people told me that it’s not ideal to eat street food because it might not be clean. For example, 14 years ago, a teacher told me not to eat street food before I went to China. However, I met a friend from Beijing and we went to a night market. I did get some street food in Beijing. She also told me about some cultures of food in Beijing. And, back then, my stomach was fine.

But, sometimes, things are a little bit different. A few years ago, I went to India and during my stay in India, I didn’t eat street food. After the trip to India, I had dinner with a friend. She asked me whether I ate some street food in India. My answer was “No.” She was quite surprised because street food for her is necessary while traveling. She traveled in Southeast Asia for a while and she likes street food very much.

I like to taste local food while traveling. And, street food is one thing worth trying. But, I usually get street food with some friends if I come to a country that I have never visited before or I have little knowledge of. For me, it’s better to have some local friends to give me some ideas on local food culture.