Essentially, street food is defined as ready-to-eat food or drink sold in a street or other public place, such as a market or fair, by a hawker or vendor, often from a portable stall. While some street foods are regional, many are not, having spread beyond their region of origin. Most street foods are also classified as both finger food and fast food, and are cheaper on the average than restaurant meals. According to a 2007 study from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO 2.5 billion people eat street food every day.
Today, people may purchase street food for a number of reasons, such as to obtain reasonably priced and flavorful food in a sociable setting, to experience ethnic cuisines and also for nostalgia. Historically, in places such as ancient Rome, street food was purchased because the urban poor did not have kitchens in their homes!
Street food around the world
Street food vending is found around the world, but has variations within both regions and cultures. For example, Dorling Kindersley describes the street food of Vietnam as being “fresh and lighter than many of the cuisines in the area” and “drawing heavily on herbs, chile peppers and lime. But street food of Thailand is “fiery” and “pungent with shrimp paste … and fish sauce” with New York City’s signature street food being the hot dog. In Hawaii, the local street food tradition of “Plate Lunch” (rice, macaroni salad and a portion of meat) was inspired by the bento of the Japanese who had been brought to Hawaii as plantation workers.
In the Nigerian context street foods have been with us since time immemorial, always increasing in number and variety with upsurge in urbanization. Chief amongst these are bean cakes (akara), ofada rice and beans, yam porridge,okpa,pastries, such as buns, meat-pie and egg roll. Others include local beverages made from grains such asakamu,burukutu,zobo,kunu,fura de nono and local gins(ogogoro) with variants depending on the place of origin. These compete favourbaly with international brands.
In the late 1990s the United Nations and other organisations began to recognise that street vendors had been an underutilised method of delivering fortified foods to populations and in 2007, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO)recommended considering methods of adding nutrients and supplements to street foods that are commonly consumed by the particular culture.
In 2002, Coca Cola reported that China, India and Nigeria were some of its fastest growing markets; markets where the company’s expansion efforts included training and equipping mobile street vendors to sell its products.
Apart from their relatively affordable prices, many urban dwellers choose to eat street foods because of the nature of their jobs which takes them out of their homes in the wee hours of the morning.
Cultural and economic aspects.
Walking on the street while eating is considered rude in some cultures, such as Japan. In India, Henrike Donner wrote about a “marked distinction between food that could be eaten outside, especially by women,” and the food prepared and eaten at home; with some non-Indian food being too “strange” or tied too closely to non-vegetarian preparation methods to be made at home.
In Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam region, street food vendors produce economic benefits beyond their families by purchasing local fresh foods which has led to a proliferation of urban gardens and small scale farms. In the United States, street food vendors are credited with supporting New York City’s rapid growth by supplying meals for the city’s merchants and workers.
Proprietors of street food in the United States have had a goal of upward mobility, moving from selling on the street to their own shops. However, in Mexico, an increase in street vendors has been seen as a sign of deteriorating economic conditions.
Health and safety
Despite concerns about contamination by street food vendors, the incident of such is low with multiple studies showing rates comparable to restaurants. As early as the 14th century, government officials oversaw street food vendor activities. With the increasing pace of globalization and tourism, 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 aware nesses.
In 2002 a sampling of 511 street foods in Ghana by the World Health Organization, WHO showed that most had microbial counts within the accepted limits and a different sampling of 15 street foods in Calcutta showed that they were “nutritionally well balanced”, providing roughly 200Kcal of energy per rupee of cost.
We should learn from the United Kingdom, where the Food Standards Agency (FSA) provides comprehensive guidance of food safety for the vendors, traders and retailers of the street food sector. Other effective ways of enhancing the safety of street foods are through mystery shopping programs, through training and rewarding programs to vendors, through regulatory governing and membership management programs, or through technical testing programs.
There are however, concerns about their safety in the Nigerian context because of several reasons. There are no credible data to work with. Othersare the sources of water used for cooking, the prevalence of filthy slums attracting houseflies and several other vectors of pathogens that causes diseases such as cholera, stomach upset and vomiting.
To further the cause of the safety of street foods in Nigeria there should be strict regulatory frameworks for street foods as we have with processed and packaged foods and drugs as monitored by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC. There should be collaborative efforts between health officials at the local and state levels as well as NAFDAC, including trainings on food safety. For instance, in the sixties there were local government officials on environmental sanitation who also inspected places where food items were hawked.
There should be specified punitive measures for offences committed. This would serve as a form of deterrence to the practitioners. No effort should be spared towards ensuring food safety in the public interest.
Ayo OyozeBaje
ayobaje@yahoo.co.uk; 08057971776