How to Eat Street Food Without Getting Sick

In my decade of nomadic travel, one of the of the most frequent questions from readers was a very straightforward one: how can I try delicious food from around the world without getting sick? I’ve received this question from readers all over, and often about street food. It’s part of what led me to write a longer form book about that very topic.

I did not grow up obsessed with food, which is a surprise to many who read this site. People I meet nowadays laugh when I tell them that I used to see food as a simple necessity, not a joy. In my early 20s, however, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which meant that I had to start paying attention to each ingredient as I ate. While traveling, this led to interacting differently with food vendors since I needed to ask many more questions in order to eat safely. What started as an obligation to keep me safe morphed not long thereafter into my present obsession with eating the world.

My food journey may have begun with restrictions on eating, but it inhabits a wide open space of curiosity. Food is the most intensive and rewarding lens I used to learn about a new place, and staying curious about why dishes are prepared a certain way, or how ingredients are used, led me to experience destinations differently.

While I always enjoyed my travels prior to eating my way through them, the feel of those years is less intense and colourful than what I feel about traveling through food. Street food, too, is such an integral part of why I travel, and a wonderful way to soak in the sights and sounds of the places I’m visiting. And even if eating obsessively isn’t your jam, it’s still important to make sure you try foods as safely as possible.

Which is why I finally sat down to write the post you have all been asking me for.

My tips for eating street food without getting sick

My pre-trip research for food simply consisted of reading a book called How to Shit Around the World, which I highly recommend doing on a crowded subway trip. The book has entertaining vignettes, practical advice, and a lot of tips about eating abroad. Despite consuming the book from start to finish, I went to South America and promptly ate a lukewarm llama empañada, and then threw up for 4 days straight as I crawled my way through the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.

“Ok,” I said to myself, “rule number 1 is do not eat your favourite animal when you eat street food.”

An acquaintance got sick in Chiang Mai recently and said, “but I didn’t even eat the street meat”. I shook my head in dismay. “That’s probably why you got sick.” He went to a tourist restaurant during off-peak hours. Two strikes against his stomach right there. Even years later, I still hear people saying this, “oh, I don’t know how I got sick when I didn’t even eat the street food!”.

In my years of travel, I have fallen off a motorbike when a truck full of cabbages and pineapples rained vegetables down on me, gotten bronchitis, lung damage, a broken toe, and dengue fever. Not all at once, mind you. But they were difficult challenges, even when spaced out.

Food poisoning, however, was very rare. Since quitting my job as a lawyer in 2008 to travel, I got sick only a few times. The most recent one was when I ate a yoghurt at the 7-11 in Thailand in 2011, a full 12 years ago.

That’s right, I have not gotten food poisoning since 2011 despite eating street food all the time. This includes street food in India during my 2013 trip there, and many delicious curbside meals in Oaxaca, Mexico, where I lived from 2015-2017. I realize people are worried about food poisoning, and the advice out there does seem to suggest restaurants are safer. As you’ll read below, though, I respectfully disagree — though as noted in this piece, there are some caveats.

Once you know what to look for, pay attention to what locals eat and when, then you are on your way to delicious meals that serve as experiences as well as dinner, and hopefully don’t have you hugging the toilet bowl later. No advice is a fail-proof method, of course.

This is what has worked for me in my decade of eating the world.

1. Check out the length of the lineups.

Everyone tells you to eat at the stalls with the longest line of locals. This is still good advice! But I always add that it’s important to look at who is in line. I know my stomach is potentially less resilient than that of a taxi driver used to quick street meats, so I try to opt for street stalls with both women and children in line.

More variety in the customer base usually means the stall has been vetted enough that it’s safe for everyone. Yes, it’s still better to choose a long lineup of men over crickets and an empty stall, but given the choice, women and children in line is where you want to go.

2. Go back to school at lunchtime.

For a cheap lunch, go to the local university and find a place nearby to eat. Students are a hungry bunch, and often some of the fun variations of east meets west pop up here. In Saigon, “pho burgers” were present but so were cheap stalls that served local favorites to a rotating cast of students. It won’t be the best meal of your life, but it will be local, fast, cheap, and usually delicious. Not recommended for dinnertime, however, as the meals will have sat out for the afternoon.

3. Take advantage of a transparent kitchen: street stalls!

As I said in the introduction, I feel like I have more control with a street stall because I can see how the food and the money is handled. If someone is touching the money and then the raw ingredients, I don’t eat there. If there are plastic gloves for the food-making and then they are kept on for handling money? Same – it’s a miss. For two-party stalls often one person will be in charge of the cash and cooking, and the other preparation. This is a good bet, since they are kept separate.

Basically, avail yourself of your senses when choosing where to eat.

That’s not to say that I avoid restaurants entirely! But where there is a culture of street food (like Mexico City or Saigon or Bangkok) I will usually eat all of my meals on the street.

4. Detailed translation cards for those with food allergies or restrictions.

I have celiac disease, and another reason I eat on the street is that I can modify the meal as it is cooked, instead of relying on pre-made sauces that might get me sick. I made my own translation cards because the ones I bought or downloaded still got me sick because they were insufficiently detailed. For example, many vendors don’t realize that soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and oyster sauce all contain wheat flour. Each card goes through two sets of translations and is researched by a celiac who loves to eat.

Friends with peanut allergies also carry translation cards, and of course due diligence is needed to know what ingredients have to be avoided. If you’re looking for nut allergy or shellfish allergy cards, you can head to Select Wisely or Equal Eats.

These cards go a long way toward getting your point across — certainly more so than my initial “gesture feverishly while mimicking getting ill over food” — and Select Wisely has a strongly worded option for those with more life-threatening allergies. You could also bring a Point It Dictionary if you’re concerned about eating food you can’t place. Also fun for trading words in your respective language when on a long train ride. I am also in the process of building my own celiac cards with highly detailed notes tailored to specific countries.

5. Cutlery as culprit for getting sick on the road.

Cutlery can be a source of bacteria even if the food is safe and fresh. I carry baby wipes with me for older wooden chopsticks that look like they need a wipedown, or for utensils that don’t seem well-washed. It will get you some weird looks but it can be helpful to ensure the cutlery is clean. Alternatively, cute portable chopsticks will do the trick. I carry these ones at all times.

I rarely make use of this extra cleaning-or-chopsticks system but have found it really useful to have the option, especially when outside of urban centers. A bonus: if you need to use the washroom and forgot toilet paper you always have your baby wipes!

6. Morning markets are a great way to start the day.

When readers write about where to start with street food, I always suggest they head to a busy local produce market. Be it the many rotating markets around Inle Lake in Myanmar to morning food markets in Mexico City, or on a side trip to a small village — if it has a produce market, it usually has some freshly cooked food. Because these stalls are set up to feed the hungry shoppers, there is quick turnover. I’ve found that a way to experience a daunting new food spectrum is to start at these markets and try the foods one by one.

Plus, many people opt for hotels with breakfasts included, or for a more Western breakfast of yoghurt and fruit. While that may be an option, I’d highly recommend dining at a market instead. If you love the food you try, you can ask the vendor where they are during the day, or if they don’t serve that food elsewhere, where they would suggest you try it instead.

All in all, markets are an excellent way to kickstart your tastebuds and all of your other senses.

I am not a morning person, but on my travels I become one because these markets are one of the most memorable, tasty, and interesting ways to spend a few hours of my time.

7. What time do locals eat? That’s when you want to be eating.

One of the pieces of advice I give to tourists, especially European ones who eat a bit later than North Americans, is to try to mimic the local food times for their meals. I realize that 6pm dinners or 11am lunches don’t fit the usual meal patterns for most, but it can be very helpful for your stomach if that’s when locals eat.

This is especially important when dishes are cooked and set out buffet style, as you’d want to eat them when they are fresh and before bacteria can form as the food cools. For me, this means shifting my meal times somewhat but it is worth it because the food is piping hot, newly cooked, and doesn’t get me sick.

8. Fully cooked food is safest, always.

Remember my llama empañada? Yup, I disregarded this advice entirely. The center of the snack was cold and I still finished it off. DON’T BE ME. If it’s not fully cooked and it’s supposed to be a hot meal, ask for it to be cooked a bit more.

I’ve gotten more adventurous over the years, eating raw shrimp dishes in Thailand and fresh herbs in places where I don’t know the water source. This has been a product of my own risks and my understanding of what my stomach can handle. Happily, even in North India I didn’t get sick, despite eating street food. Why? I made sure it was fully cooked, freshly made, and my mum and I also decided to stick to the meal times of locals. (I have to say I was a bit surprised as I anticipated getting sick at least once given the stories of my friends but happily I did not!)

9. Beware of ice or fruit shakes where water may be contaminated.

I order drinks with ice in Saigon or Bangkok, where filtered water is subsidized and available cheaply for the general population. I’ve also spent quite a bit of time in both cities and have never gotten sick from the water or ice. That said, when I travel outside the cities I try to avoid ice or fruit shakes with ice because I do not know how the ice was made. If there’s an easy thing to cut out where the water isn’t safe, ice is the first to go. Fruit shakes in Laos downed quite a few of my friends because the ice was not made from distilled water. Best to be sure, especially if you’re frequently on the move.

In Mexico, it was the same thing. If it’s not piping hot, I’m going to ask if they’re using filtered water to make the drink. If in doubt, I’ll use my own water to chase down my meal.

10. In some destinations, sticking to vegetarian dishes may be helpful.

In some destinations, I avoid meat if I am really concerned about food poisoning. When I took my mum to India, we ate street food but stuck to vegetarian eats for the most part. The times we did eat meat we were told we were taking a risk, but we decided to regardless because we were excited about the food. Even the most carnivore of friends tend to temporarily avoid meat in places where water is extremely contaminated.

11. Peel your fruit—or don’t eat it.

Unless you are used to a new place and its bacteria, I would only eat peelable fruit. Bananas, papaya, mango, rambutan, mangoesteens and more — there is no shortage of delicious fruit that has a peel, and your stomach will thank you. Avoid lettuce, or fruit with skin you eat (like apples).  Strawberries, while tempting, ought to be avoided in countries with high pollution and a questionable water system.

12. Sauces can be a problem, especially if left unrefrigerated.

I love a good table condiment, but occasionally the sauces are what causes travelers some distress. The reason is that in many destinations they are kept at room temperature, meaning they can breed bacteria over time. I tend to gauge my sauce usage on the amount of consumption from other diners: if it’s a food where condiments are used liberally (e.g. bun rieu soup in Vietnam, where it would be blasphemous to skip adding wet chili paste), I go for it. If I can see crust on the side of the sauce, or a few drops are used at a time, I will take my time trying the salsas or sauces to ensure they are not unrefrigerated indefinitely.

I am currently in Oaxaca, Mexico, and I have eaten sauces for all my meals thus far without issue. I have also chosen places teeming with people and families, and watched almost everyone scoop liberal amounts onto their food.

What to do if you get food poisoning?

The tips above are not guarantees and even the most iron cast stomachs can be felled occasionally by a food misadventure. It is part and parcel of the risk inherent in traveling.

If you get food poisoning or a stomach illness, then a visit to a local doctor might be in order. Many of them are familiar with traveler’s diarrhea but also with any lingering viruses circulating in the region. I do not take Imodium unless and until I have an absolute emergency in the form of a long bus ride plus food poisoning.

I would caution against trying to rehydrate immediately with sweetened sport electrolyte drinks because I’ve found the high levels of sugar in those drinks actually make me feel worse if the bacteria are still in my system. Instead, I stick to a steady diet of oral rehydration salts, rice (bread is a substitute if you are not gluten-intolerant) and bananas. Hydrate as much as possible.

What do I pack to make my stomach feel better?

Here are some items I keep in my bag, no matter the destination.

Probiotics for Travel

I would also recommend traveling with probiotics that don’t need refrigerating. They have helped me get back on track the times I have been sick, and I feel better when I take them. For years, I used the extremely compact Hyperbiotics Pro-15 probiotics, time release pearl capsules that have accompanied me for years. They include some of the strains I wanted to be sure I got in my body.  I realize not everyone is sold on probiotics and that’s fair, but as always I am sharing my experiences.

For people with allergies or mast cell activation disorder or histamine intolerance, I highly recommend this D-Lactate free shelf-stable formula. There are some probiotics strains that increase histamine, and others that reduce it. In a new environment, you want a reducer and this is a good blend.

Activated Charcoal: a Traveler’s Best Friend

I use activated charcoal when I feel a bit queasy, if I’ve got a hangover, and if I ate gluten by mistake and want to do what I can to mitigate. It has helped me tremendously and I don’t leave home without it, even in North America.

You can get these on Amazon, at the 7-11 in Thailand, or at most natural health stores. I’ve picked more up in Mexico, Vietnam, Laos, and many other countries.

They’re very reasonably priced.

Digestive Enzymes for Travel

I find these useful for me as a celiac, but friends carry them also despite not having any food restrictions.  I use this product because it has DPP-IV (Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV) in it, which helps break down gluten and casein. To be clear, I use these NOT to eat gluten but for times I mistakenly eat gluten and feel very sick. (It is essentially an emergency tool for me; there is no fix for the disease). For non-celiacs a general digestive enzyme like this would normally suffice.

Fresh Ginger Tea for Stomach Upset

You can almost always find fresh ginger as you travel, but just in case I bring a few of these ginger root teabags with me to take when my stomach feels a bit off. They are soothing and as a bonus the warm tea helps calm me just before bed.

Resources & Inspiration For Food Lovers

I wanted to end this post with some of the books and sites I’ve gone to over and over again to further fuel my love of food. The first is practical, the rest are suggested for the beauty of the scenes they conjure in prose and photos.

Books to Read for Food Lovers

• How to Shit Around the World: a doctor’s advice about staying healthy as you travel, food and otherwise. Written with humor and joy, from someone who has been around the world.
• Eating Vietnam: a new book from Graham Holliday, famous for his delightful Noodle Pie blog, on his many incredible meals on the streets of Vietnam. As someone who loves Vietnamese food, especially eating it on those tiny blue stools on the side of the road, this book was just wonderful to read.
• Lucky Peach’s Street Food issue: covering Chiang Mai, Mexico City, Mumbai, and Buenos Aires.
• The World’s Best Street Food: A large food book from Lonely Planet that doubles as a guide. It talks about the kinds of foods in each street food mecca, how they are made, and their primary ingredients and underlying story, and then provides recipes so you can make them at home.
• Heat: I read this book years ago but it remains a huge fave, one of those books I was sad came to an end. It follows Bill Buford’s adventures when he decides to apprentice in Mario Batali’s kitchen, then learns how to be a line cook, a pasta-maker, and an apprentice to a Dante-quoting butcher in Tuscany.
• Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: Fuchsia Dunlop’s memoir of her time eating in China was so lovingly crafted that I could not concentrate until I finished the book. A great insight into not just her travels but also Chinese culture as seen from outside eyes.
• Spice: The History of a Temptation: Written by Jack Turner, a Brit with a great sense of humor, this history of spices and the spice trade takes you through the ages and into the minds and palates of explorers from hundreds of years ago to present day.
• Salt: A World History: Essential reading from Mark Kurlansky about the history of the world’s most overlooked white powder, and how its use changed the way we function in the world and how much we were able to explore it by sea.

Cookbooks I Love

• Latin American Street Food: The best flavors from the markets and beaches and roadside stands in Latin America, from Mexico down to Argentina, in recipes you can make at home.
• David Thompson’s Thai Street Food: A bible for those who love to eat Thai food, this cookbook combined with travelogue is a must for your shelf. It’s heavy, but you’ll enjoy it.
• Burma: Rivers of Flavor: I’ve gifted this book to friends and family alike because Naomi Duguid beautifully captures the colors, flavors, and fascinating history from her many months in Burma (Myanmar).

Food Sites and Podcasts to Learn From

There’s nothing more satisfying to me than learning about the stories and history behind the foods on my plate. Here are a few websites that I turn to time and time again as starting points for these culinary explorations:

• Edible Geography
• Food Politics
• Gernot Katzer’s Spice Page
• Politics of the Plate
• The incredible Food Timeline
• History.com’s Hungry History series
• Gastropod podcast
• NPR’s The Salt

Hopefully with this guide you will not shy away from street food entirely, but instead pick judiciously and enjoy not just the explosion of tastes on your tongue but also the glorious chaos of sitting on the street and surveying the scene as you eat.

Bon appetit!

-Jodi