Street FOOD? Advice

Laflx

Whenever I travel I normally eat the street food (Syria, SE Asia, East Los Angeles). India I've heard mixed recommendation...

I do plan on taking acidophilous (sp) and eating curd. Is there anything I should absolutely AVOID. I am doing lots of reading but new to India. Very excited. I leave next week

Dehli
Varanasi
Jaipur
Agra
Dharamsala
Rishikesh

Thanks@
Felix

webtraveller

Back in India, we used to eat street food lots of time.
Any hot items like fuming hot Idlis, dosa, poori, even the chinese chow mein and fried rice (after 8pm near MG Road, Bangalore was very popular 8 years back or so for this chinese food, competition to the Rice Bowl restaurant, I dont know the status now), should be no problem.
Pani puri and chat, usually people eat from street vendors.
Jilebi and mirchi bajji OK too.
Other cold items I am little bit nervous.
Though I have seen people eating the cut fruit plate etc. I dont suggest. Best is to buy whole fruit, wash it one or two times and eat.
Buttermilk and lassi ok if it is too hot outside and no other options available. If the climate is moderate, dont go for that.
Probably some other IMers will give loads of advice on this. I will leave it rest to them.

seventies'hippy

If others are eating the food then with your track record you should have no problems. Just don't eat anywhere no one else is eating,,,,,

__________________
.
.
.

My Photo Gallery

webtraveller

The Best rule of thumb.
Kudos, seventies'hippy!!!!

camelgirl

There's no absolutes on this. Street food can be wonderful if you follow a few rules, which are true anywhere, really. You probably have enough experience with this already, but a reminder:

If it's cooked in front of you and it's hot food and it's put on a plate without anyone touching it, it should be fine. Most street stalls (dhabas) do this. The real issue isn't usually rotten/bad food. It's people touching perfectly safe food with their contaminated hands (remember Typhoid Mary, the Irish immigrant cook who inadvertantly killed some of the rich people she worked for in the USA a 100 years ago?) And, there is no guarantee that even very fancy, expensive restaurants will keep you from getting sick if the kitchen staff doesn't wash after using the toilet --seriously, rich tourists get sick just as often as budget travelers! They just get nicer rooms to lay around in.

Definitely avoid raw foods like salad stuff. That can be contaminated with dirty water. Fruit that you peel yourself is excellent and safe. Don't get drinks with ice cubes--any cold bottled drink is safe, just clean the top before you drink out of the bottle. And of course, hot tea is great in India. And their coffee in the South is fantastic!

john.sw

A plate?

Surely you mean a piece of newspaper?

Before everything was made illegal in England we used to have traditional Fish & Chips served in newspaper.

In India, samosas, etc. served on pieces of newspaper are a real pleasure!

__________________
www.nilgiris.asia your guide to the Nilgiris, Ooty, Coonoor, Kotagiri and Gudalur

ajay7

avoid raw uncooked stuff and tap water if you are new to the " indian environment"
eat well cooked stuff botteled water , look around see how clean a place looks come in an go out..
some common sense stuff ...........

cyberhippie

Wonderful advice, thanks to all who posted!!

byronic

Also sometime fried food should be avoided. The food may be fresh but the oil may be very (and I mean very) old, or of a low quality that may be indigestible to a virgin stomach.

This advise may be taken with a bit of ire, as the tempting food is, for me at least, ALWAYS that deep fried goodness. So be careful about what the street vendor cooking oil may look like. If it looks like the poor guy has been frying Jalebi in the same oil for 6 months, you might consider taking a pass Otherwise, if you are brave, proceed at your own risk

.

dan37_123

ok, here comes the super bug killer, and with this you can eat any damn thing you want-food from road side stalls to five star restrausnts. Usually the road side stalls are much more hygenic than the stinking nice looking, bug ridden carpeted, mold stinking wall painted STAR hotels.

this worked for a friend of mine, early in the moring ON EMPTY STOMACH GULP A BIT OF SUPER ALCOHOL (Schnaps-German, Grappa-Italian etc.,). What a wonderful day to start the day.

Good luck
dan

SHIMLA

Avoid street food in this season - the monsoon. Chances are that a swarm of flies would have tasted it before you had a chance to do so !

__________________
Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop !

dan37_123

YES, i hate those flies.

As SHIMLA said avoid anything the flies touch.

dan

Laflx

Very good advice. Didn't think about the season related to food stalls. Much appreciated. Look forward to my time!

Nick-H

Alcohol is good for getting drunk. Nothing else.

Oh, sorry: it is, of course, just great for encouraging dehydration.

__________________
.


IndiaMike Mod Team (The Grumpy One)

traceyam

I only eat popcorn and those fire-roasted sweet potatoes from street vendors. Nothing else, and no exceptions.

__________________
"Don't you sometimes wish the arctic was strawberry flavoured?" -- Thermoman