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

Beside an array of food and drink producers, visitors can feast on over 20 incredible street food brands. —Roger Sands, Forbes.com, 18 May 2025

Colombia’s coastal cities are famous for their cuisine, but don’t overlook their wonderful street foods. —Cat Sposato, AFAR Media, 15 May 2025

The supermarket is popular in Canada for fresh produce and a variety of hot food cooked on site, including Asian street food and staples such as Peking duck. —Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2025

In Taiwan, travelers can experience gorgeous national parks, hot springs, and incredible street food culture. —Iona Brannon, Travel + Leisure, 16 Apr. 2025

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