Street Foods

 
 
 

Vocabulary

effort	cuisine	around the world
taco	feature	affordable
blend	vendor	encourage
grill	emporium	take the time
van	gourmet	wholesome
unique	selection	pay attention
recipe	turn up	all the time
pie	organic	competition
plate	diverse	ingredient
lamb	authority

 
 
 

 
 
 

Video

 
 
 
 

  Transcript

This is the Neun Markethalle in Berlin’s Kreuzburg District. There’s a street food market here every Thursday featuring cuisine from around the world.

You’re encouraged to eat standing up. And it’s fine to eat with your fingers.

“We want to try a lot of different foods and meet a lot of different people, the people who created these dishes,” says Nikolaus Driessen, Manager of Neun Markethalle. “We also want to offer food that’s affordable. You can walk around, try different kinds of food and learn about different cultures.”

For example, kim chee casadias….and Korean beef tacos…prepared by Lauren Lee. She’s Korean-American. And after living in Los Angeles, has brought her unique blend of Korean and Mexican cuisine to Berlin.

“What’s special about the street food market here is that we’re mostly small producers here that all love the things we’re making. And we really take the time and effort to make a nice product,” says Lee.

Street food markets are common in parts of Asia and Africa. The market at Foradani Gardens on the island of Zanzibar for exaple, features local specialties like grilled seafood.

Late night food emporiums like these are popular in China and Taiwan.

Meals-on-wheels have become quite popular in the US. Until recently, most of the food sold from vans like these was unadventurous.

But now many vendors are offering gourmet items that feature wholesome top-quality ingredients. These days people are paying closer attention to what they eat.

“People are choosing quality over quantity, and they want to know where their food comes from how it’s produced, how the farm animals are raised, whether the vegetables are grown organically,” says Eva-Maria Hilker, a food writer.

Food trucks are increasingly turning up in Germany. American Billy Davis used to operate a taco truck in his home state of Texas. Now, he’s doing it in Berlin.

But the authorities still haven’t given him a license for sales on public streets.

“There hasn’t been any history of that,” says Davis. “And so it seems very foreign, new, and maybe difficult for them to accept.”

The Haisa Hobo turns up every week at the street foods market in Berlin’s Kreutzburg district. It features freshly prepared cheese specialties from Germany’s Algo region.

Lots of people come to the market to try something new. Others are just looking for a little piece of home.

“I’ve never seen this food before. It’s the first time I have eaten this food,” says a tourist.

“These are pirogi from Poland. It was my mom’s favorite dish. She made them all the time from a recipe our family had used for generations. I just wanted to try one.”

“Chili beef pie from New Zealand. Never seen it before, but it tastes great.”

Some experts say that street food in Germany may soon offer some serious competition to sit-down-restaurants.

“That could certainly happen. Street food restaurants provide a more diverse selection of food items. A wide selection of cuisine form a number of different countries. And they do it at a price that restaurants just can’t match,” says Hilker.

Street food is also a way for young chefs like Lauren Lee to make a statement: you can serve first rate cuisine on a paper plate…just like do now here in Berlin.
 

 
 

 Questions

1. You can enjoy street food at the Neunhalle Market every day. True or false?

2. Do customers usually sit at tables and use knives and forks? Is the food cheap or expensive?

3. The cuisine there is international. Is this right or wrong? Describe Lauren Lee’s food. What are some examples of street foods?

4. Are food trucks a tradition in both the US and Germany? What are “meals-on-wheels”?

5. People don’t just want fast food; they also want wholesome, healthy foods. Is this correct or incorrect?

6. Why do people come to the street food market?

7. Street foods may seriously compete with sit-down restaurants. Why will street foods compete with restaurants?

8. Is it very busy in the street food market? Is it good business?
 
 
A. Are there street foods in your city? Are street foods popular? What are some popular street foods in your country?

B. I have visited cities or places that had lots of street food stalls. Yes or no?

C. Street food vending (food hawking) is good business. Do you agree?

D. I would like to own and operate a street food stall. Yes or no? Would your friends like to own and operate a street food stall?

E. Should there be (more) street food stalls, vendors, and hawkers?

F. What will happen in the future?