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

Like the Marrakech souks, Chatuchak is a full sensory experience of loud music, the smell of Thai street food and a buzzing, barter-friendly atmosphere. —Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 29 May 2026

Travelers are posting everything from niche street food finds to convenience store ‘hauls’; there are over 266,000 TikTok videos for #711 alone. —Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026

The popular street food is called hotteok in Korean. —Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 27 May 2026

Other vendors prepare street food that reflects the diversity of the San Fernando Valley, and live entertainment from local bands ties it all together, making the Encino Farmers Market a joyous ritual. —Daily News, 26 May 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