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 building also featured six amphorae (large vats) embedded in its countertop in a configuration like the one seen in Pompeii’s famous street food court, or thermopolia. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 11 June 2025

Influenced by Singapore and Malaysia’s street foods, these pork ribs are air-fried and coated in a sweet and savory coffee glaze. —Kat Tran, Sacbee.com, 10 June 2025

Then there’s feasting on street food from vintage Vespa scooters, a roadside cooking class, and dinner with Duc, the chef who runs one of Hoi An’s most renowned restaurants, at his home. —Michael Goldstein, Forbes.com, 31 May 2025

Tucci In Italy Sneak Peek: Florentine Street Food Hidden Gems During the first episode (which premiered May 18), Tucci got the chance to try a Florence street food classic: lampredotto. —Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 May 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