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

The visual alone is striking, but the act also triggered a giveaway foretold over a month before when The Wiener’s Circle, a Chicago street food institution, promised free hot dogs in exchange for just such a display. —Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 4 Dec. 2025

Sample local street foods like taiyaki and senbei from family-run stalls nestled along narrow alleys. —Bon Appétit, Bon Appetit Magazine, 4 Dec. 2025

The Greek street food chain specializes in pitas, traditional plates, fresh salads and sides along with desserts. —Elizabeth Marie Himchak, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Dec. 2025

Neri's Tacos Ask any local where to grab a budget-friendly bite in San Pedro, and they're bound to recommend Neri's Tacos, where authentic Mexican street food reminds you the border is a stone's throw away. —Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 30 Nov. 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