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

Here’s a brief look at the history of street food in the Queen City. —Charlotte Observer, 11 Aug. 2025

Kick things off with their al pastor skewer, a nod to Mexico City’s favorite street food pared down to just the essentials for a delicious and juicy bite. —Rana Good, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025

Dishes such as sushi and ramen are now international staples, and Japanese cooking techniques, aesthetics and culinary discipline have shaped global standards from fine dining to street food. —Chris Reed, Oc Register, 30 July 2025

The storied outpost for spiced flatbreads and other Arabic street food will open in Jack London Square. —John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 14 July 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