Text and Photos by Henrylito D. Tacio
Street foods are everywhere. Wherever you go, there are foods – weird in some ways, exotic in other ways – that can satisfy your cravings or ease the pain of hunger. Or something to try and talk about with your friends and families.
The first time I was out of the country (way back in 1988 when I visited Thailand), I never dared eat anything sold in the streets of Bangkok. At least in the first two days, I didn’t. But on the third day, I did the unthinkable: eating sliced green mango and drinking pineapple juice.
That was my first attempt at eating street foods in another country. Yes, I don’t experiment when I travel abroad. The reason: I don’t want to experience a gastrointestinal illness that will turn my trip into a fiasco, or worse, bring me to a hospital.
It was another time in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where I first saw some scorpions being grilled. There were also some big spiders that were fried, and ready for eating! But the worst of all were the baby snakes (minus the head, of course) that were barbecued.
This was also the moment that my idea of “balut” being the most exotic street food got totally shattered.
Street foods are not only a common sight in developing countries, they are also prevalent even in industrialized countries. In the United States, I saw people selling street foods in the busy streets of New York City, where I ordered some hot coffee and doughnuts.
“Street food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or other public place, such as at a market or fair,” Wikipedia states. “It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and meant for immediate consumption.”
Most street foods are classed as both finger food and fast food, and are cheaper on average than restaurant meals. In a 2007 research conducted for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, it was found that 2.5 billion people eat street food every day.
“Street foods represent a significant part of urban food consumption for millions of low- and middle-income consumers, in urban areas on a daily basis,” FAO states. “Street foods may be the least expensive and most accessible means of obtaining a nutritionally-balanced meal outside the home for many low-income people.”
In the Philippines, there are many types of foods sold in the street, to name a few: kwek-kwek (made of quail eggs covered with orange dough and deep fried), isaw (chicken intestine put on a stick and grilled), fish balls (minced fish rolled into balls), balut (pre-hatched duck egg), betamax (a cubed, curdled blood of a chicken), adidas (the marinated grilled chicken’s feet), atay (marinated and barbequed liver of chicken), and helmet (the grilled head of a chicken).
Other fillers for hungry stomachs include: maruya (a combination of banana and flour, deep fried until golden brown), kikiam (made of ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd sheets then deep-fried), calamares (deep-fried buttered squid rings), mais (corn on a cob, but it could also be salted boiled corn), and green mango with bagoong (unripe mango on a stick with a salty, fermented sauce or paste made from small shrimps or fish).
For drinks, the following are common: buko juice (coconut water, that can be drunk directly from the buko itself), iskrambol (a simple shake with artificial flavors), and sago and gulaman (a refreshingly cold drink made out of tapioca and jelly).
These days, selling street foods is becoming an important economic activity as it feeds hungry millions and provides employment and income to 80-90% of the country’s urban poor, according to a study done by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
“There’s nothing like the street food business: small capital, convenient location, no space rentals and sometimes no power or water bills to pay for,” wrote Ronald M. Henson in an article which appeared in The S&T Post, a publication of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Local authorities, international organizations and consumer associations are increasingly aware of the socioeconomic importance of street foods, but also of their associated risks. “With the increasing pace of globalization and tourism,” FAO said in a statement, “the safety of street food has become one of the major concerns of public health, and a focus for governments and scientists to raise public awareness.”
Concerns of cleanliness and freshness often discourage people from eating street foods. According to experts, all street foods, cooked or raw, can cause gastroenteritis, typhoid, and hepatitis, depending on the bacteria or viral infection they contain. Most contamination is caused by contact with feces. Other causes of infection are growing yeast or molds, because it’s not stored properly, and flies.
The Department of Health (DOH) has been constantly releasing advisories urging the public to be extra careful in buying food and drinks from street vendors. In its website, the DOH said consumers of street foods are susceptible to food- and water-borne diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, and parasites as well as non-infectious diseases caused by chemical and plant toxins.
A DOST study conducted a couple of years back discovered that most of the samples taken from the street food sold in four urban centers – in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Laguna and University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City – did not pass quality standards.
In the DOST study, microbiological findings indicated the presence of coliforms such as Escherichia coli, Enterobacterae aerogenes, and E. cloacae in both barbecued and deep-fried animal by-products. This means that the bacteria load of the selected food samples was rather high, ranging from 240 to 2,400 per gram of food.
In Davao City, the study found out that foods sold on city streets were tested positive for certain bacteria and salmonella. The latter is a kind of bacteria that can survive many weeks and months in optimum conditions, and causes diseases like typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, or other food-borne illnesses. Death is not uncommon in salmonella infection.
After the study was released, a reporter asked then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio if total ban of street foods in the city is possible, the lady mayor replied: “Food per se is not dangerous, improper handling is.”
Duterte clarified that even before the DOST/CIMD conducted their study, the government has constantly monitored the safety of street foods. “We distributed carts that are ideal for street food cooking and display, vendors use their hair nets, go through food handling seminars, and get identification cards from the City Health Office,” she said.
In another study done by the US-based Equity Policy Center, it was found that the largest single problem of the street food industry in most of the developing countries is the lack of access to clean water for washing utensils and hands.
“Where clean water is hard to obtain, a single bucket of untreated water might serve throughout the day, a banana leaf floating on top to hide the filth,” the study noted.
One of the health problems people may suffer from eating bacteria-laden street food is food poisoning. “The risk of serious food poisoning outbreaks linked to street foods remains a threat in many parts of the world,” the FAO stressed. “A lack of knowledge among street food vendors about the causes of food-borne disease is a major risk factor.”
Now, are street foods a boon or a bane? While they are a boon to vendors, street foods are also a bane among consumers. Because of this, concerned sectors – especially those selling near school campuses – are compelled to observe proper sanitation and cleanliness with stringent measures to discourage roadside food vendors from selling unsanitary and junk foods to students.
“Any potential health hazards from street foods,” wrote Henson, quoting FNRI, “can be prevented if we only take the challenges of food quality and safety.” – ###
