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 saving costs. However, convenience does not necessarily mean advantage.

If in a restaurant with a proper location, customers can ignore the preparation and eat without worry. But in this case, in a “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. The two buckets of water were placed right in front of the broth cart, but customers still calmly slurped without any concern.

As for drinks, roadside stalls usually prepare a free pitcher of iced tea for customers. Just one pitcher of water, but there are countless mugs dipping in and out to drink while people are thirsty from spicy food and sweat all over their bodies. That’s not to mention that the stall owner doesn’t boil or use bottled water. They just fill the pitcher with tap water, and when the pitcher of iced tea is empty, they 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 then pour them into the pot or wash them once or twice. The raw bean sprouts are not washed (they are delivered by the production facility in a padded bag or plastic bag), when the customer orders, they are put right into the bowl to blanch. The fresh chili peppers 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 then sell more. Who knows how many years those chili sauce bottles have been used.

Illustration photo.

All of these images are clearly visible to visitors. Dirty and unhygienic, that’s for sure. So why do people still dare to play with their health? There are many reasons, including the fact that it’s cheap and doesn’t require cooking. But ultimately, 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 “getting sick”, being expensive, losing a day’s work, etc.

In the current time when food safety is at an alarming level because of the widespread presence of toxins and banned substances in food, we hope that everyone will be aware of protecting their own health. Don't 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 wake up early and make breakfast at home, both to practice diligence and to have a safe meal.

Dang Trung Thanh