street food

noun

plural street foods

: prepared food of a kind that is typically sold to customers on a street or sidewalk and that is often designed to be carried and eaten while walking

Pizza is quintessentially a street food: a quick lunch or a quick snack often eaten standing up or on the go.

—Don Lesser

Traditionally eaten as street food, empanadas are ideal for snacking on the go but are just as satisfying to sit down to for a simple dinner.

—Melissa Roberts and Maggie Ruggiero

Satays, which are skewered and grilled morsels of beef, fish, chicken, pork, or vegetables, are street food in Southeast Asia, devoured day and night with gusto.

—Karen MacNeil

Examples of street food in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

With a vibrant culinary ecosystem found in the street food scene—marked by incredibly flavorful bites found at highly affordable prices—the city has also made a splash in global fine dining over recent decades. — Carinne Geil Botta, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026

Investigators had initially suspected food poisoning after the family ate street food in the waterside neighborhood of Ortakoy. — CBS News, 26 June 2026

Oftentimes sold as street food, each type has its own local flavor and characteristics. — Randi Gollin, Martha Stewart, 25 June 2026

On a Friday night in SoFA, street food and live music fill the air. — Anthony Tordillos, Mercury News, 24 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for street food

• accrued
• allude
• collude
• conclude
• construed
• debuted
• delude
• elude
• endued
• ensued
• eschewed
• etude

Kids Definition

street food

noun

: prepared food of a kind that is typically sold to customers on a street or sidewalk and that is often designed to be carried and eaten while walking