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

There’s a new restaurant in South Charlotte serving up classic Mexican street food. — Tanasia Kenney, Charlotte Observer, 16 Sep. 2026

Named after India’s roadside food stalls, Dhaba BBQ reimagines traditional curries and street foods into handhelds and barbecue plates. — Sam Flemming, AJC.com, 16 Sep. 2026

At several tables, families shared the chargrilled half-chicken Thai-style, a street food dish with a Thai marinade. — Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Sep. 2026

While the wider world has in recent decades fallen for the archipelago’s humble street food, there’s a rising number of contemporary chefs who are elevating the national cuisine on the global stage. — Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 5 Sep. 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