Don't be easy on street food

(Baonghean) - Street food stalls are often chosen by people because they are convenient, cheap and fast, especially by ordinary people such as workers and students. Due to lack of time, they often eat at "toad" stalls to save time in preparing and cleaning as well as save costs. However, convenience does not necessarily mean advantage.

If in a restaurant with a proper location, customers can eat without seeing them prepare the food and can "get away with it" without worrying. But in this "toad" restaurant, even though it is clearly dirty, people still "innocently" eat and drink as if nothing happened. With only two buckets of broth from morning to noon, the seller washed so many bowls, spoons, and chopsticks. Of course, those things were terribly greasy. The owner used a towel the color of congee to dry them and remove the grease. Two buckets of water were placed right in front of the broth cart, but customers still calmly slurped without any concern.

Regarding drinks, roadside stalls usually prepare a free pitcher of iced tea for customers. Just one pitcher of water, but there are countless mugs scooping up water to drink while people are thirsty from spicy food, sweating all over. That is not to mention that the stall owner does not boil or use bottled water. They just collect tap water in a bucket, when the pitcher of iced tea is empty, just refill it.

The spices and ingredients of the street stalls make people... even more shocked. The bones used to make the broth sweet, the sellers just buy them and put them in the pot or wash them once or twice. The raw bean sprouts are not washed (delivered by the production facility in a padded bag or plastic bag), when the customer orders, they are put into the bowl to blanch. The fresh chilies are already shaved at the market, also not washed. As for the soy sauces, they have no labels. The shop owners buy them in barrels, when they run out, they refill them and sell more. Those chili sauce bottles have been used for who knows how many years.

Illustration photo.

All of these images are clearly visible to the guests. Dirty and unhygienic are certain. So why do people still dare to play with their health? There are many reasons, including the fact that it is cheap and does not require cooking. But in the end, our awareness of protecting our own health is too poor. The proof is that many people know they have health problems but still refuse to go to the hospital for a health check because they are afraid of "disease giving birth to disease", being expensive, losing a day's work, etc.

In the current time when food safety is at an alarming level due to the widespread presence of toxins and banned substances in food, we hope that everyone will be aware of protecting their own health. Do not be too lenient with unhygienic street food. Only eat at restaurants that you feel are clean. If you want to protect your health, you should get up early and make breakfast at home, both to practice diligence and to have a safe meal.

Dang Trung Thanh