by Ben Groundwater
It's the worst piece of advice you can be given, and yet I hear it all the time: "Don't eat street vendor food".
So you might end up taking a few extra rides on the porcelain bus. Big deal. As I've mentioned on this blog a few times, I'm a huge fan of eating on the street. And it's not just for the food (we'll get there).
There's something beautifully untainted about watching your meal being cooked for you in a little cart by the side of the road. You can smell what everyone else is having, get jostled in a queue as everyone yells out their order, listen to locals catching up on the day's news ... and as a bonus for travellers, it's quick, easy and cheap.
Unfortunately the street eating culture isn't something we have in Australia - unless you count Harry's Cafe de Wheels. It's pretty much crappy fast food or nothing - which is probably why, in other countries, it's so surprising to find some of the best food in the world being slapped together by people you'd normally run away from if you saw them prowling the streets at home.
That's not to say there isn't bad street food out there. I ate some dodgy mystery meat in Hanoi once and spent a few days hugging a toilet bowl. I also ate a very tasty little mashed potato and mince do-hickie in La Paz, and ran for the bano. In places like Tanzania, where hawkers wave such delicacies as dog on a stick at you, or Uganda, where deep-fried grasshoppers are on the menu, you're really testing your luck.
I've also been pretty disappointed with street food in Europe. Even if you do manage to find food being doled out on the streets, it's usually just bland pap designed for gullible tourists. Maybe the weather discourages outdoor dining, I don't know. But you have to head indoors to get decent food.
But anyway, onto the good stuff.
Of course, the kings of street eats are Asia and the sub-continent, but I'm going to start by throwing out a curly one - the United States. A little hypocritical, you might say, since I once put the US on my list of the world's worst food. But work with me here - anyone who's ever bought one of those massive slices of pizza you get on the street in New York (or one of the pretzels) would agree that the Seppos can do street food.
Similarly, over in San Francisco there are plenty of outdoor oyster bars which do incredible food on the cheap, and Tex-Mex treats from the little burrito stands around the city can't be beaten.
Another great place to go is Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania. The old port town has been conquored by pretty much everyone with a boat in the last few centuries, and boasts a complex cuisine as a result. The open-air seafood market at Stone Town is the place to be every evening, and if you have to try the Zanzibar pizzas - a bizarre mix of dough, egg and chilli shallow-fried in a pan. They're awesome.
There is also great street food in South America. You can't walk past a soccer ground without smelling the rich tang of sizzling choripan in Argentina, and a quick mince-filled 
empanada is perfect when you haven't got much time to spare.
As I mentioned before, the Bolivian street food tastes great, but has a nasty kick. And the "Andean donuts" you can find in places like Puno in Peru blow Krispy Kreme out of the water.
But none of these places really come close to Asia and the sub-continent. Street vendors are ingrained in the culture there, and the pure diversity of food on offer is amazing.
First up is Malaysia, known for its huge food markets rich with dishes like the famous laksa. Most of the food there I couldn't name - I just line up, point and chew.
Vietnam was also amazing - the sizzling meats on the pavements of Hanoi were almost as good as the coffee and beer hoi that you can wash it down with.
Cambodia I found a bit hit a
nd miss - I had some amazing little bowls of noodle soups, but arachnophobia prohibited me from giving the tarantulas a go.
But for me, the undisputed heavyweight champ in the street food world is India. I can't begin to describe how good the food is that's produced by some of the dodgiest looking men in the world in some of its dirtiest kitchens.
In Mumbai, it's the little spicy mashed potato balls with chutney on a bun that you get for breakfast, or the bizarre paneer cakes you see gently frying away in shallow woks; in Rajasthan, it's the flat potato cakes smothered in a variety of colourful sauces, slapped into a banana leaf bowl; everywhere, it's the "Indian sausage roll", the samosa.
It's the spicy lamb kebabs you see flame-grilling by the side of the road. The biryanis infused with saffron. The light, fluffy, paneer-stuffed naans. The sweet chai the Indians seem to spend most of their days sipping away at. The lassis served up in disposable clay pots. The thali lunches that you ball together and shovel into your mouth from a banana leaf ...
It's all good.
God I'm hungry.
Hope you're enjoying the Backpacker blog. There'll be a new one up on smh.com.au every Wednesday, for a bit of light relief to remind you of why you went to work in the first place: to save up enough money to get the hell out of here! If there are any good travel topics you think I've missed, drop me a line at bgroundwater@fairfax.com.au.
Are you a fan of street food? Which country does it best? Let us know. Everyone that comments on our blog entries goes into the draw to win an Ocean and Earth 65 litre Travel Backpack valued at over $120. Please include your email address in your comment to go into the draw.
