There are many, many reasons to travel: to meet new people, to explore new cultures,
to see awesome cities, to hike through spectacular scenery.
But what about food?
For some, sampling the cuisine of another country is like peeking inside the mind of
an entire culture.
We’re not talking Michelin-starred, fancy, five course dining, either.
From Europe, to Asia, to the Americas and Africa, some of the best eats on the planet
are stuff you can pick up at markets and from street vendors.
Here are ten delicious snacks from around the globe that will blow your mind and leave
you craving more.
See any awesome world snacks we missed out?
Let us know in the comments below!
10.
Okonomiyaki (Japan)
It’s said that you haven’t really tasted Japan until you’ve tried Okonomiyaki.
In the land of sushi, noodles and seafood, Okonomiyaki stands out by being exactly what
you wouldn’t expect.
A sort of cabbage-based pancake traditionally served with aonori seaweed flakes, bonito
fish flakes, super-sweet mayonnaise and the heavenly Okonomiyaki sauce (not unlike the
UK’s HP sauce with a hint of soy), this snack is eaten across the country by the truckload.
Garnish aside, it’s tricky to say what actually makes an Okonomiyaki.
The name itself loosely translates as “what you like, grilled.”
This means the combinations are essentially endless.
You might nab a shrimp or octopus one in Osaka, then high-tail it to Tokyo for a pork filling.
There are even local variations on how to cook it.
Hiroshima style means putting the ingredients on top; Osaka style means mixing them all
into the batter.
You can grab one of these taste-explosions at one of the many Okonomiyaki bars across
the country.
Just rock up, place your order and prepare to have your tastebuds blown.
9.
BeaverTails (Canada)
The standard joke is that America is a nation of bulging waistlines, while Canadians are
svelte and trim.
Judging by the existence of BeaverTails, the only rational explanation for this is that
those north of the border are riddled with tapeworm.
A fried dough pastry stretched into the shape of a beaver’s tail and loaded with more
sweet stuff and condiments than you can shake a proverbial stick at, BeaverTails are a delicious
heart-attack-in-the-making.
Just look at this picture, for example.
Really, look at it.
For those of you who hate right-clicking, it’s a pastry snack the size of your face,
coated in chocolate and topped with Smarties (chocolate buttons that inexplicably aren’t
available south of the Canadian border).
It looks like everything you never knew you wanted while mildly drunk at an ice hockey
game.
A branded snack, BeaverTails have only been around since 1978.
But our sweet tooth would take them over poutine any day.
8.
Kürtoskalács (Hungary)
If you’re ever wandering around the top of Budapest at night, follow your nose to
the ancient castle.
That sweet, doughy smell tickling your senses and making your mouth water like Niagara Falls?
That’s probably coming from the Kürtoskalács stalls.
Known as Transylvanian Chimney Cakes, these Hungarian bad boys are even tastier than they
smell.
Supposedly, the dish originated in modern-day Romania (hence the Transylvania part of the
name), among the Hungarian community living there.
Today, Kürtoskalács are called the oldest pastry in Hungary, and pop up at street food
stands everywhere.
So, you might be asking, what the heck are they?
It’s pretty simple, really.
Chimney cakes are made by rolling dough slowly round a wooden spoon (or similar vessel),
coating the outside in sugar and oil and heating it over a fire.
So you get a sweet, crunchy exterior and a warm, doughy inside.
Just to send the calorie count even higher, plenty of Hungarians take them with chocolate
spread.
The absolute best time to try Kürtoskalács is when it’s so cold out you can see your
breath.
Then the heat of the dough and the sweetness combine to feel like an elixir of life.
7.
Tamiya (Egypt)
Everybody in the Middle East does falafel, and most countries do it excellently.
No one, however, does it as well as the Egyptians.
Only they don’t call it falafel, oh no.
They want to keep a dish this good a secret.
If you’re ever in Cairo or Alexandria (according to food critics, the two best places for Egyptian
falafel), keep an eye out for Tamiya.
It’ll change your ideas of just how freakin’ good falafel can be.
The secret here is fava beans.
While most Middle Eastern countries use chickpeas to make falafel, Egypt bucks the trend by
using fava beans.
The result is a falafel that’s moister and lighter than anything you’ll find elsewhere.
It’s cheap, too.
Stalls will sell you a tamiya wrap for around the equivalent of 30 cents a pop.
According to the experts, though, the place to head for is Mohammed Ahmed, a cheap eatery
in Alexandria.
There you can combine it with fuul (a bean paste) and eat yourself into a coma.
In fact, tamiya is so cheap and delicious and plentiful that many joke Egypt is the
best country for making vegetarians fat.
6.
Red Red (Ghana)
West African food is famous across the continent for its intense flavors and inventive style.
But in West Africa itself, the country that takes the crown is probably Ghana.
While there’s plenty to be said for Nigerian or Senegalese food, Ghana just edges its neighbors
out the running.
Part of the key to that success?
Red red.
A kind of simple tomato stew made with black-eyed peas, red red is practically Ghana’s national
dish.
People eat it at home, on the way to work, while hanging out and at restaurants.
The reason being that it’s delightful.
The texture of the beans, combined with the vague, smoky flavor of the meat all combines
to make a mouthwatering dish.
Then there’s the red palm oil.
Supposedly, the mixture of this oil with tomatoes is why the stew is called red red in the first
place.
Although Ghanaians eat red red at pretty much any time, apparently the time to really appreciate
it is breakfast time.
It’s a fair point.
We’re trying and we honestly can’t think of any better way to start the day than with
a spicy, smoky, tomatoey African stew.
5.
Klobasa (Czech Republic)
The Czech Republic consumes more beer per capita than literally any other country on
God’s green Earth.
Yes, that includes Ireland, Austria and Germany.
As such, you’d expect their best street food to cater to the needs of drunks; i.e.
warm, fatty and deeply delicious.
Enter the infamous klobasa.
A smoked, German-style sausage traditionally served with mustard and two slices of brown
Czech bread, its 1:00 a.m. drunken street food elevated to an art form.
All this is a pretty recent development.
In 1948, the Communists took over what was then Czechoslovakia and immediately started
being jerks about it.
One of the things they were jerky about was what people could eat.
A book was published, called Recipes for Warm Meals.
If you cooked and sold anything that wasn’t in it, you’d get yourself thrown in jail.
Combined with meat shortages in the ’70s and ’80s, this led to Czech sausages almost
vanishing.
When the Communists were overthrown in 1989, Czechs went klobasa crazy.
Today, klobasa is so popular that English-speaking locals even run international blogs about
where exactly to chow down on the best Czech sausage.
One to study before you go.
4.
Hormigas (Colombia)
In the heart of Colombia’s Santander department sits a little, whitewashed village called
Barichara.
Legendarily beautiful, it looks like a slice of southern Spain relocated to South America.
That’s not why people go there, though.
For foodies and snack fans, there’s one overwhelming reason to visit this sleepy village.
Barichara is where you can buy hormigas.
The slightly gross part first: Hormigas are ants.
Specifically, they’re female leaf-cutter ants with a butt so big it could star in music
videos.
Harvested in the spring, they’re toasted with salt and served from little packets,
just like peanuts.
But this isn’t an entry we’ve thrown in just to make you go “eww!”
Hormigas are considered a local delicacy, with high protein levels and aphrodisiac qualities.
They’re so renowned that upscale restaurants across Colombia use them to make expensive
sauces.
But the best way to try them is to grab a pack in Barichara and chow on down.
Salty, earthy and a little strange, hormigas in Santander are traditionally eaten under
the blazing sun with an ice cold beer.
You take a sip of beer, eat an ant, then take another sip, and so on until the packet is
empty.
3.
Chilli Crab (Singapore)
Singapore is one of the smallest countries on Earth.
How small?
Well, you could fit the entire nation into Rhode Island four whole times and still have
a bit of space left over (confused UK readers can replace “Rhode Island” with “Cornwall”).
At such a reduced size, you might not expect any incredible foods to come out of Singapore,
but you’d be wrong.
The micro state’s chilli crab is some of the best street food in Asia.
The snack does what it says on the tin.
A stir fried crab, coated in a sweet and super spicy sauce, it comes served with deep fried
buns.
But that explanation can’t convey just how tasty chilli crab is.
CNN ranked it the 35th most delicious food in the entire world.
There are more shops, restaurants and stalls selling it in Singapore than there probably
are people in Wyoming.
People fly to Asia purely to sample it.
That’s how good we’re talking, here.
Chilli crab is so widely available in Singapore that there’s no point in us telling you
where to go for it.
Just step off the plane and head towards the nearest group of people.
We’re like 99% sure one of them will be able to point you to a stand within walking
distance.
2.
Tacos (Mexico)
Yeah, we know what you’re thinking.
Tacos.
Of all the street food in the world, they go and choose the dish that inspired the abomination
we call Taco Bell.
Well, hold your horses there, pardner.
What you probably think a taco is, is lightyears from what you’ll get on a street in Mexico.
Forget the Tex-Mex thing with the crispy shell, real tacos are as close to them as your fourth
grade art project was to the Sistine Chapel.
Let’s start with the basics: Proper Mexican tacos come in a flat, homemade tortilla.
They also contain more than just a begrudging serving of meat and some salsa.
El Chupacabra’s taco stand in Mexico City, for example, claims over 100 different ingredients
go into each and every one of their tacos…and that’s before you get onto the sides.
Here’s a picture of their truck.
See those endless vats full of sauces and garnishes and deliciousness?
If you want to, you can pile in stuff from each and every one of those (plus many others
off camera) to make a taco exploding with so many flavors you’ll wind up accidentally
recreating that scene from When Harry Met Sally.
Basically, get away from the border cities, and tacos in Mexico go from being cheap junk
food you eat when you hate yourself and no longer want your pants to fit, to awesome,
working class street food that deserves its spot on this list.
1.
Burek (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
The Balkans have easily some of the best food in the world, and that includes the best street
food.
Pljeskavica meat patties in Serbia, shkembe chorba soup in Bulgaria…the list goes on.
For our money, though, there’s one clear winner.
Burek (also called Borek) from Bosnia-Herzegovina is perhaps the tastiest snack in the whole
of the Balkan region.
Originally from Turkey, this pastry snack really came into its own in Bosnia, where
it was brought along with Ottoman rule in the middle of the last millennium.
Basically, you take some pastry, fill it with aromatic mincemeat, goat’s cheese, spinach
and herbs, roll it up, lightly spice it, glaze with oil and bake until it is golden and delicious.
The result is a kinda-sweet, kinda-savory dish that’s crispy on the outside, and has
the consistency of al dente pasta on the inside.
The best place to grab burek is on the streets of Sarajevo, where a serving goes for around
the equivalent of $1.70.
Awesomely, it tastes good both drunk and stone cold sober, meaning it’s probably, therefore,
the most perfect snack in the entire world.