Currywurst, Jalapeno and fries in Berlin – no prizes for presentation.
What connects the world’s greatest cities?
It’s not the weather, it’s not language, and it’s certainly not politics…
No, what truly unites them is that they all have burgeoning street food scenes. Over the last few years, as a nomadic food and drink writer, I have seen this first-hand. New York, Toronto, London, Copenhagen, Berlin – all of the capitals I have visited are rich for vendors offering honest, simple, tasty dishes for a good price. It’s a truly global movement, one which plays into modern diners’ desire for authenticity, variety, inexpensiveness and atmosphere.
Of course, street food is not a new phenomenon.. Finding casual things to eat with your hands has always been possible, whether you grew up eating Pav Bhajis from roadside stalls in Mumbai or, like me, enjoyed the odd cheeseburger from a dubious vendor on the way to a football match.
Scallops served on risotto, not your average street food dish.
Some of the vendors at Lisbon’s Time Out Market, all of which are handpicked by the magazine.
What has changed, however, is that street food has got better. A lot better. Both in terms of the general ambition and quality of the dishes, as well as the sheer variety of different cuisines and dishes available. Whether you put it down to globalisation, social media or cookery shows, we as consumers are more discerning when it comes to food. And we now know that street food can be more than a measly hot dog with charred onions and mustard. This has led to a culture of vendors trying to outdo each other in order to give us things that we have never seen before; or haven’t seen enough of — a model restaurants seem to be following, too.
How restaurants keep up and compete with the dynamism of street food scene must be a concern – for restaurateurs at least. Up until recently, they had it all their own way. If you wanted good food, you either went to the trouble of cooking it at home or paid them for the privilege. Now there is a third way and to many, especially the young, it is a more attractive option. After all, why go to a restaurant offering one type of cuisine when you could go to a street food market and take your pick from twenty; where you are free to go back for seconds and sit in the sun with a beer or cocktail with a group of friends and not have to worry about people coming and going.
An aerial view of Copenhagen’s premier street food market, which serves up treats from all corners of the globe.
It’s not just restaurateurs that will feel the tremors of the street food boom. Tabletop manufacturers also have to think about what a decline in restaurant attendance could do to their own bottom lines. Selling plates and cutlery is all well and good but not if they’re not required
The key, in both cases, is to adapt. For restaurants this may mean toning down the formality and looking to open more casual sites or even trucks of their own. While for tabletop manufacturers, the future surely lies in paying more attention to disposables. Because whether you’re in a Michelin star restaurant or on the roadside, the truth is tabletop matters and always will do.
By Isaac Parham
Want to hear more of our ‘street talk’? Well you’re in luck as we will soon be launching a Street Food Around the World blog series, which will look at how street food and the way it is served differs from country to country; city to city. We also do a regular video series on disposables, check it out here:
