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

Begin a day of exploration with a street food crawl in the Binondo district (the world's oldest Chinatown), then cross the Pasig River to explore the walled city of Intramuros, the former seat of Spanish colonial power. —Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Mar. 2026

However, Vientiane, which just marked 50 years as the capital of the Lao People’s Republic, is an easy-going, manageable city with thriving street food and independent music scenes. —Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 28 Mar. 2026

New to the grounds is an alley between the Terrace and Beer Barn that celebrates the region’s thriving street food scene. —Senior Food Editor, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2026

The free event features Asian street food, retail vendors, live music, lion dance performances and an atmosphere inspired by Asian night markets. —Joseph Hernandez march 26, Kansas City Star, 26 Mar. 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