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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Mariana Yepez climbed the ranks of the Los Angeles street food scene before building her own taco empire. James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026 After my cruise, the ship turned its casual sit-down restaurant into a Beefbar, featuring bao buns and other global street food from the buzzy restaurant brand. Fran Golden, Travel + Leisure, 7 July 2026 With a vibrant culinary ecosystem found in the street food scene—marked by incredibly flavorful bites found at highly affordable prices—the city has also made a splash in global fine dining over recent decades. Carinne Geil Botta, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026 Investigators had initially suspected food poisoning after the family ate street food in the waterside neighborhood of Ortakoy. CBS News, 26 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for street food

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of street food was in 1860

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Cite this Entry

“Street food.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/street%20food. Accessed 12 Jul. 2026.

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
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