Is Eating Street Food Safe?

[MiG16]

^^ not saying the above is not true

but my question is, have you seen what they do in restaurants

theres TV shows in some countries that takes people into the kitchen of supposedly decent restaurants and cafes....and MY...some of them are DISGUSTING.... oil and grime worse than in a garage, containers with stains from months earlier.....etc etc

some thai restaurants abroad, I know they recycle the rice.....whats left from bowls that guests didnt finish goes back into a big pot and is served the next day..... and other things like that

[uptou]

The cook drops a large piece of meet on the dirty floor in a restaurant kitchen.Yes theres a chance it goes in the bin,but if nobodies watching maybe it will go in the wok.

With a street stall there are usually a few eyes on the cook,& at whats going on.

Thais are very fussy with their food,& a stall thats using old meat wont survive for long.They also like the veggies crisp in stir fries.

[GaiYaang]

If I put a steak in front of a car exhaust for a second then started the car. You saw the fumes go through it; would you eat it?

If you wouldn't why would you eat something that has been hanging around a busy road for hours?

If you saw me come out of the toilet without washing my hands and I then picked up an apple would you eat it?

So how many street sellers wash their hands do you think?

If you knew I used the same oil 100 times would you eat my fries?

How often do you think the oil gets used by a treet seller selling a meal for 30 bht?

Why is it that so many foreigners leave their hygeine levels behind when they visit a third world country? Are you lot happy if your girlfriend were to do any of the above when cooking at home?

come on, I think you have just been listening to too many stories of what people say what happends to other people. Dont be soft and eat the food. Ive never had any problems with it

If you came from a place where everything are clean, it could be difficult to accetp at first. I rather eat street food than processed food/frozen food back home. I ate street food all the time, fruit, vegi, ect. no problem. If you are not healthy or have a weakened immune system then may be better to stay off street food.

[Bangyai]

Of course one wonders. So do I .....still.........after 3 years.

Fact is I never ever had a problem after eating at a food stall.

But , Gosh was I sick for days when I had meals at 2 posh restaurants, one in Bkk the other one in Phuket.

I'll second that experience. Had Delhi Belly from expensive restaurants several times and once from the Pizza hut. For an idea what goes on behind kitchen doors read George Orwels ' Down and Out..." . At least with food stalls you can see what you're getting and how its prepared. Noodles are nearly always a safe bet as they pass through boiling water but 'ahahn dtam sang' can be more risky if they don't use fresh cooking oil.

[cobra]

Is flying unsafe, inherently no, but the odds are you'll be just fine,

Objectively you have to go with the odds, and odds are you'll be just fine eating vendor food, yes, there's a chance you may get sick, but a greater chance you want,

It's always about risk assessment and the odds,

I've never met a pizza I didn't like, Jackie Gleason,

If it comes on a stick I've eaten it, the cobra,

[AmeriThai]

Is flying unsafe, inherently no, but the odds are you'll be just fine,

Objectively you have to go with the odds, and odds are you'll be just fine eating vendor food, yes, there's a chance you may get sick, but a greater chance you want,

It's always about risk assessment and the odds,

I've never met a pizza I didn't like, Jackie Gleason,

If it comes on a stick I've eaten it, the cobra,

Agreed. But I'd have to draw the line at eating rat on a stick.

[balo]

I have only had one problem , I was foodpoisoned at S&P restaurants in Silom area , the 120 Baht chicken made me terrible sick for 3 days .

Never had any problems with the streetfood , just avoid the fruits and salads and you'll be ok.

[TheDon]

Street food is safe, dont listen to all these other people trying to pull some sort of scare tactics.

Just enjoy the food and ignore the haters

[kedawi]

I wouldn't worry to much about MSG in street food...compared to a western dite where ...."MSG is found in most soups, salad dressings, processed meats, frozen entrees, ice cream, and frozen yogurt, in some crackers, bread, canned tuna, and very often in "low fat" and "no fat" foods to make up for flavor lost when fat is reduced or eliminated. It can be found in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and dietary supplements. It is found in enteral feeding products and in infant formula. It is found in vaccines -- including vaccines used on children. It is found in hospitals where it is hidden in the jello, chicken soup, and some IV solutions given to very sick patients. "

MSG

[kedawi]

The cook drops a large piece of meet on the dirty floor in a restaurant kitchen.Yes theres a chance it goes in the bin,but if nobodies watching maybe it will go in the wok.

With a street stall there are usually a few eyes on the cook,& at whats going on.

Thais are very fussy with their food,& a stall thats using old meat wont survive for long.They also like the veggies crisp in stir fries.

Exactly - "what the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve" - not a good way to assess food.

[kedawi]

Is flying unsafe, inherently no, but the odds are you'll be just fine,

Objectively you have to go with the odds, and odds are you'll be just fine eating vendor food, yes, there's a chance you may get sick, but a greater chance you want,

It's always about risk assessment and the odds,

I've never met a pizza I didn't like, Jackie Gleason,

If it comes on a stick I've eaten it, the cobra,

Agreed. But I'd have to draw the line at eating rat on a stick.

If it's a paddy-field rat it should be fine.

[kedawi]

"street food is not safe"

if you happen to be unfortunate (as i was in 1991) catching amoebiasis. in my case a life threatening disease as i acquired -living in the bush and jungle for years- a certain immunity. result was i hardly noticed any side effects for several months till i broke down one morning in the gym, was transported to a hospital where a hole as big as a fist was discovered in my liver. some "learned" specialists in a Florida hospital wrongly diagnosed the amoebia abscess as liver cancer and wanted to cut me up. i refused and told them "liver cancer? put your scalpels away and make me fit for flying as i prefer to spend my last six weeks and then die in my home country.

luckily in Germany a correct diagnosis was done and i was cured by taking extremely powerful antibiotics over a period of three months. lucky for me too was the fact that the liver is the only organ in the human body that can regenerate and/or regrow parts.

go ahead street food lovers but don't look with what kind of water crockery and cutlery is "cleaned" and don't mind the flies which pretaste the delicious food you are savouring

With street food you can at least LOOK ....with a restaurant.......well, do YOU go and check the kitchens every time?

[desi]

"street food is not safe"

if you happen to be unfortunate (as i was in 1991) catching amoebiasis. in my case a life threatening disease as i acquired -living in the bush and jungle for years- a certain immunity. result was i hardly noticed any side effects for several months till i broke down one morning in the gym, was transported to a hospital where a hole as big as a fist was discovered in my liver. some "learned" specialists in a Florida hospital wrongly diagnosed the amoebia abscess as liver cancer and wanted to cut me up. i refused and told them "liver cancer? put your scalpels away and make me fit for flying as i prefer to spend my last six weeks and then die in my home country.

luckily in Germany a correct diagnosis was done and i was cured by taking extremely powerful antibiotics over a period of three months. lucky for me too was the fact that the liver is the only organ in the human body that can regenerate and/or regrow parts.

go ahead street food lovers but don't look with what kind of water crockery and cutlery is "cleaned" and don't mind the flies which pretaste the delicious food you are savouring

With street food you can at least LOOK ....with a restaurant.......well, do YOU go and check the kitchens every time?

The dear man came back with an amoeba after a lot of travelling, so was not sure if he picked it up from Morocco or Kenya. If ever a guy was suffering from labor-like pains, he was. Over a period of two plus years, periodically he'd come down with the most awful stomach pains, followed with severe cramping that would have him rolling on the ground, topped up with diarrhoea lasting three days over.

No doctors could help. Life came to a total halt. All trips that fell during those times had to be cancelled. All dinner parties, everything. He couldn't function.

I'm not sure if it was good or bad luck as they discovered cancer during one of the tests. And that's when it stopped. When he went through radiotherapy.

Although he did suffer a bit in the years before the clean up, Thailand has never come even close to what he went through previously. So it was one of those 'so, you think that's a knife? Nah, THIS is a knife!' experiences. And yes, he loves to eat Thai. Where ever...

[AmeriThai]

Is flying unsafe, inherently no, but the odds are you'll be just fine,

Objectively you have to go with the odds, and odds are you'll be just fine eating vendor food, yes, there's a chance you may get sick, but a greater chance you want,

It's always about risk assessment and the odds,

I've never met a pizza I didn't like, Jackie Gleason,

If it comes on a stick I've eaten it, the cobra,

Agreed. But I'd have to draw the line at eating rat on a stick.

If it's a paddy-field rat it should be fine.

You're welcome to have my share of them then. In our neck of the woods, most of the ponds are surrounded by residents, meaning sewage ultimately drains into those ponds.

[Naam]

"street food is not safe"

if you happen to be unfortunate (as i was in 1991) catching amoebiasis. in my case a life threatening disease as i acquired -living in the bush and jungle for years- a certain immunity. result was i hardly noticed any side effects for several months till i broke down one morning in the gym, was transported to a hospital where a hole as big as a fist was discovered in my liver. some "learned" specialists in a Florida hospital wrongly diagnosed the amoebia abscess as liver cancer and wanted to cut me up. i refused and told them "liver cancer? put your scalpels away and make me fit for flying as i prefer to spend my last six weeks and then die in my home country.

luckily in Germany a correct diagnosis was done and i was cured by taking extremely powerful antibiotics over a period of three months. lucky for me too was the fact that the liver is the only organ in the human body that can regenerate and/or regrow parts.

go ahead street food lovers but don't look with what kind of water crockery and cutlery is "cleaned" and don't mind the flies which pretaste the delicious food you are savouring

With street food you can at least LOOK ....with a restaurant.......well, do YOU go and check the kitchens every time?

at home my wife does and our maid who cooks and was trained by my wife knows what to do and what not to do. as simple as that.

[MarkBKK]

You're welcome to have my share of them then. In our neck of the woods, most of the ponds are surrounded by residents, meaning sewage ultimately drains into those ponds.

Oooo ... they'll taste just like what they eat then, won't they. Oh. Hold on. What about prawns?

[Tod Daniels]

Upon further reflection and after reading the totally paranoid advice handed out by conspiracy theorists, and/or safe eating advocates, my advice would be;

For the entire duration of your vacation here; don't eat ANYTHING, nothing at all, not a single bite of ANY food.

It's probably not safe.

NEVER eat fresh food, (dirt could be on it)

NEVER eat cooked food (dirt could have been on the cooking pot)

NEVER eat canned or boxed food, (dirt could have, via osmosis, gotten in)

NEVER ever drink ANY water unless it's out of the toilet bowl (long known by savvy travelers as the safest source of drinking water in the world, bar none.)

As a tourist you're better off fasting for the entirety of your vacation. IF the masses of overweight, waddling, profusely sweating, wide eyed tourists around my area are any indication, all of them to a person could stand to lose a few kilos at the very least.

[kedawi]

"street food is not safe"

if you happen to be unfortunate (as i was in 1991) catching amoebiasis. in my case a life threatening disease as i acquired -living in the bush and jungle for years- a certain immunity. result was i hardly noticed any side effects for several months till i broke down one morning in the gym, was transported to a hospital where a hole as big as a fist was discovered in my liver. some "learned" specialists in a Florida hospital wrongly diagnosed the amoebia abscess as liver cancer and wanted to cut me up. i refused and told them "liver cancer? put your scalpels away and make me fit for flying as i prefer to spend my last six weeks and then die in my home country.

luckily in Germany a correct diagnosis was done and i was cured by taking extremely powerful antibiotics over a period of three months. lucky for me too was the fact that the liver is the only organ in the human body that can regenerate and/or regrow parts.

go ahead street food lovers but don't look with what kind of water crockery and cutlery is "cleaned" and don't mind the flies which pretaste the delicious food you are savouring

With street food you can at least LOOK ....with a restaurant.......well, do YOU go and check the kitchens every time?

at home my wife does and our maid who cooks and was trained by my wife knows what to do and what not to do. as simple as that.

so you never eat out anywhere?

[kedawi]

most people don't seem to have a clue how food poisoning is contracted and how that relates to street food. applying western hygiene norms whilst not totally useless can be misleading.

Food poisoning in the west has burgeoned since the introdction of "chill serve". The traditional Thai street food has been around in this humid climate for years and the foods and methods - such as they are - have evolved to minimise the on-set of poisoning and maximise the chances of a customer surviving to come back again.

Edited August 11, 2008 by kedawi