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

While traditional family recipes and regional specialities are at the heart of the competition, contestants are pushed outside their comfort zones through challenges inspired by fine dining, street food and international cuisines. — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026

True, Dua Lipa has mostly lived in places where the de facto street food is a kebab, but work obligations put her in the land of hot dogs plenty. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026

His family is also owners of the popular DFW Thai street food chain Zaap Kitchen. — Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Oct. 2026

The combination—Chicago hot dog meets Karachi street food—was a happy accident, and the start of something larger to come. — Maryam Jillani, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Oct. 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