street food
Americannoun
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ready-to-eat food sold on the street or in a park, open-air market, or other outdoor public place.
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a particular food sold in an outdoor public place.
Etymology
Origin of street food
First recorded in 1860–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One night, Mr. Irani announced he wanted to open a restaurant that served the street food he craved from his childhood in India.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
From the 17th to 19th centuries, spaghetti was a popular street food in Naples, typically enjoyed with one’s bare hands in large fistfuls.
From Salon • Feb. 14, 2026
He has a taste for street food, and appears on social media wearing a T-shirt and shorts while stir-frying with a wok, or performing 1980s Thai pop on the saxophone or piano.
From Barron's • Feb. 8, 2026
Allison Dove, 29, left, and Andrea Edoria, 33, both of Pasadena, enjoy Philippine street food.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2025
“Samosas are Pakistani street food, similar to empanadas.”
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
