Street
food vending is found around the world, but has variations within both regions
and cultures. Street food refers
to ready-to-eat food or drink sold in a street/roadside or other
public place, such as a market or fair, by a hawker/vendor, often from a
portable stall. Street food is so called because it is usually sold (though not
necessarily made) on the streets by people who can’t afford restaurant rents to
people who can’t pay restaurant prices. Some
of the most mouthwatering dishes that India has to offer can be found
underneath a small umbrella-covered food cart on a sweltering city road. But
eating street food anywhere besides a dirty roadside stall, is that it's messy
and unhygienic. While some street foods are regional, many are not, having
spread beyond their region of origin. Most street foods are also called as both
finger food and fast food, and are generally cheaper than restaurant meals. Historically,
street food is purchased because many urban poor often do not cook food in
their homes; some even do not have kitchens in their residences. People opt to
eat street food mainly due to affordability, i.e. low prices and convenience. Still
others purchase street food for other reasons, such as to obtain reasonably
priced and flavourful food in a sociable setting, to experience ethnic cuisines
and also for nostalgia. Moreover, the food items sold in these stalls are cheap
and also hot, besides their servicing is also a lot quicker than the other
bigger restaurants.
According
to recent estimates made by FAO, on an average nearly, 2.5 billion
people eat street food every day throughout the world; but most of them are
found in the developing countries. Data regarding the actual number of people
who eat street food in India are scanty and conjectural. According to rough estimates everyday almost 250
million people depend upon roadside eateries. During the past decade or so, roadside
eateries have mushroomed in and around the cities and towns and even villages
all over India, particularly in central business districts, near markets and
other crowded areas, often obstructing traffic and pedestrians, besides causing
hindrance to other shop keepers.
Chennai city is no exception to the
emerging trend of mushrooming of roadside eateries. Numerous roadside eateries
have come up all over the city and the number of people street food has
increased by leaps and bounds recently. And a large part of the population of
the meets a substantial part of its dietary and nutritional needs through meals
and beverages offered by outdoor vendors. According to rough estimates there
are about 25000 to 30000 roadside eateries in Chennai. Such roadside eateries
are popular in Chennai not only among the low income groups but also among the
middle class. But the rapidly mushrooming of roadside eateries in Chennai is
also due to due to the enormous increase in liquor consumption and floating
population. Consequently, these days, almost every road/ street has numerous
roadside eateries. The food sold in some of the roadside eateries Chennai is
solid hearty stuff that keeps labourers going through tough days. Earlier
street food included mainly idly, vada, bajji,
bonda, pakoda, samosa as well as beverages such as sugarcane juice and lassi.
But today it also include all sorts of no-vegetarian items such as biriyani, fried-rice, barotta,
mutton/chicken/fish masala/curry, mutton/chicken/fish fry, chicken 65, chicken
tandoori, etc.
Mushrooming of roadside eateries
during the past decade has in fact posed many problems. Though the food is
found to be tasty and affordable, most of the time the hygiene standards are
not followed. Many believe that from the hygienic point of view it is not safe
to take food from these eateries though on the cost factor definitely cheaper..
Official say that proliferation of small eateries over the last few years in
the city has compounded the menace. Most of such eateries show little regard to
hygiene and health of consumers, and specialise in cuisines that require use of
high amounts of oil. It is reported that many of them utilise used-oil from big
restaurants. Moreover, the unhygienic and contaminated environment exposes the
food to open air, where there is every chance of the dust on the road and other
insects settling down on the food. Vendors generally prepare food with their
bare hands, passing on germs to what they have on offer. Generally, the water
used to prepare the food and to clean the cooking and eating utensils and
sometimes are other sources of contamination. The food is often stored and sold
on open trays paving the way for the germs from garbage heaps on the streets to
get transmitted. People manning the food stalls rarely wear gloves, have
disposable plates and keep their food items covered. Most of them operate
without any proper license/registration. Most of them operate without any
proper license/registration. Therefore, steps should be taken to license/
register the roadside eateries and regulate their operation, but not try to
eliminate them because it is not only a source of livelihood for many but also
cheap food for the poor.
