Tiger Tales

Roadside Attractions

The original pop-up restaurants - makeshift kitchens outfitted only with basic equipment on street corners or in markets - produced the original fast food. Now, South-East Asian street food such as green papaya salad, deep-fried crab, dim sum and coconut pancakes, has inched its way from stalls into the culinary vernacular.

Stalls began as a way of directing visitors to fresh food markets, but were also a safety net for people with little income. These days, the average income for street vendors is up to ten times that of the minimum-wage earner. In Malaysia alone, annual street food sales are estimated at S$2.85 billion/ A$2.2 billion. In places such as Singapore in the early 1900s, men outnumbered women 10 to 1, so street food had an early and appreciative audience. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation says 2.5 billion people eat street food daily.

For Tom Vandenberghe and Eva Verplaetse, authors of Bangkok Street Food: Cooking and Travelling in Thailand, years of dining on and preparing Thai food has instilled in them a love of the cuisine and the courage to dine on street fare throughout Asia. Tom's favourite Thai dish is yam pla duk foo (deep-fried fish and green mango).

"I'll never forget my first tom yam gung out in the streets of Bangkok. It's the dish that triggered my passion for street food. The holy threesome of galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves was just beautiful."

Bangkok Street Food: Cooking and Travelling in Thailand is published by Page One (www.pageonegroup.com)

Tom's Top Street Food Recommendations in South-East Asia

BANGKOK
Almost every seafood hawker in Bangkok will offer a tom yam gung. This soup can be found in a restaurant with no name on the corner of Soi Polo next to the police station near Lumphini Park

HO CHI MINH CITY
Try banh xeo, a crispy pancake with shrimp and soybeans rolled in salad leaves and dipped in nuoc cham seasoning. This snack can be found at 46A Ding Cong Trang, District 3

KUALA LUMPUR
Sample inche kabin, deep-fried marinated chicken that has evolved from an interesting fusion of Nyonya cuisine. Try the inche kabin stall on Jalan Alor

HANOI
No visit to Hanoi is complete without sampling bun cha, sweet grilled pork patties combined with thin rice noodles, crispy greens and herbs. Go to Hang Manh Street, Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem District

SINGAPORE
For great-tasting food served in superb surrounds, head to the renovated Lau Pa Sat hawker centre near Raffles Place MRT Station. Try the bak kut teh, a Chinese pork rib soup