Planning a trip to Southeast Asia, or to casually wander around the Banana Pancake Trail? Apart from the famous historical sites, beautiful beaches, authentic cultural experiences, you might want to enjoy our street foods. If the questions regarding the street culinary experiences are still gushing in your mind, then the following guide is for you!
Great value for money
It is easy to feast like a King while spending cash on Southeast Asian street food since the prices are insanely low. Part of what makes street food in Southeast Asian countries a good value for our money is the taste, not to mention most of the authentic local Southeast Asian food can easily be found among the street food vendors, unlike in the 5-star restaurants where most of them are already being ‘westernized’ in terms of presentation, taste, and price.
How to find the best ones
In this very era, to find the recommended ones is super easy. Many apps such as TripAdvisor often presents the honest reviews from previous customers. One thing that you would instantly see is, rice is just everywhere in every corner of Southeast Asian countries, including their street food. In Indonesia, you would encounter Nasi Goreng (fried rice), while Nasi Lemak is everywhere in Malaysia and do not forget that Thailand is famous for its Mango Sticky Rice!
Food cleanliness
The level of cleanliness is often questionable, frankly speaking. Currently, Singapore is the first country in the region whose street food is categorized into hygiene grades; as in A, B, C, or D levels. The reason of why street food vendors tend to neglect the hygiene and cleanliness is partly because the sellers are quite busy preparing the food that they have no time considering the whole immaculacy.
However, it does not mean that all street food vendors share the same levels of slovenliness since many street vendors still pay attention to their utensils, placements, and the quality of their food in general. To say the least, since the exact measurement of cleanliness does not exist, our best bet is to use and trust your gut feelings.
Carefully read the reviews online beforehand, choose the recommended ones, and always opt for freshly cooked and heated foods as they are most likely to be safe. The same case is also applied to your drink preferences, only choose the bottled ones. In sum, be picky!
Tips and prevention
You have to bear in mind as well that the standard of cleanliness in the Western of more developed countries is different from the Southeast Asian standards. If you are used to eating foods that are much more hygienic, you have to be aware of a decreased natural immunity, and just be prepared of a sore stomach that follows after consuming street food—even though it is not always the case.
You have been noticed before, so next time you insist on eating the local street food, take some preventive actions such as bring your hand sanitizer, antacid medication and never be too confident in ordering spicy foods—believe us, even within Southeast Asian countries, the levels and standards of spiciness are different. Once you can adapt and adjust, you would find those street foods more alluring than you did before!
After all, do not be too afraid to try something new, especially if it can’t be found in your home country.