Suzhou Street Food

I have always been very hesitant to try street food in China.  None of it looks sanitary and you never know how long the food has been sitting out.  Many of these street vendors are often migrant workers who just don’t have the same sanitation standards as the people who live in the cities.  I heard a story from a lady in China once who told me that they didn’t even have enough water to drink, why would they wash their hands with precious water whenever they could?

I’ve often wondered how these street food vendors survive because I think a great deal of people probably have the same mentality that I do about purchasing food from them. 

Well, on our first night in Suzhou, we came across a crepe stall and I would normally walk right past it, but my friend was very curious and insisted that we try it.  I finally gave in, on the condition that we don’t get any meat in it.  Thanks to her sense of adventure, we ended up purchasing a crepe to try, and it turned out to be one of the most delicious things ever.  The fresh, pan fried crepe was a perfect complement to the dark, cold, rainy night.

In the end, neither of us got sick and I became much more open minded about trying street food in China.  Of course, you still need to be smart about it and be aware of a couple of things.  For example, try to eat at stalls with high turnover rates, and try to order foods that are cooked on the spot instead of purchasing pre-cooked foods that have been sitting out.