Supplemental Appendix 1: A brief description of different categories of street foods
Tea-bakery snacks • Usually run their business stationary or ambulant vendors basis with a small volume of utensils. Usually sale
tea along with betel leaves, cigarettes, some bakery item i.e. biscuits, bread etc.
• Bakery items is a readymade items, usually
purchased from local confectioneries and served it
with bare hands to customers. Tea and betel leaves
are prepared in a stall. Tea is usually served in
reusable cups/glasses.
Chotpoti-fried snacks • Chotpoti is a popular hot and sour snack comprising vendors cooked chick peas, potato, onion and fresh chili.
Chotpoti vendors usually operate their business in a ambulant cart; have arrangement of stove to keep
the food hot.
• Preparation of Chotpoti ingredients partially done
from vendors home. Vendors usually bring boiled
chick peas, potatoes, and egg from their home and
prepare Chotpoti in the stall. Usually served with
both spoon and with bare hands on a reusable
plate.
• Fried snacks: Piaju (onion fritters), beguni (eggplant
in batter), alu chop (potato and minced meat or egg croquette), puri (fried flat bread), shingara (‘curry
puff’ of fried pastry stuff with meat or vegetables),
chomucha (baked pastry stuffed with vegetables)
are commonly known as fried snacks. Fried snacks
partial prepare in their residence and usually fries
these in the vending place to serve hot. These
snacks have great demand in Bangladesh and liked
by people of all ages and generally found
everywhere in Bangladesh. Fried snacks vendors
usually run their business ambulant or stationary
basis.
Beverage-butter milk • Sugar cane juice, herbal medicinal sweet drink, vendors butter-milk is found more in summer season. Sugar
cane juice is the most common juice type, usually served chilled in reusable glasses. Sugar cane juice
vendors run their business on both stationary and
ambulant basis, use a heavy crusher machines to
extract juice from sugar cane, prepare and serve
instantly with ice. Butter-milk vendors prepare
butter-milk at their residence and usually serve in
reusable glasses.
• Herbal medicinal sweet drinks usually prepared with
different types of herbal ingredients i.e. herbal
plants, sugar, water. Usually prepared by mashing, blending, extracting juice or pulp and then mixed
with sugar and water. Preparation of these drinks
partially done at vendor’s residence. Vendors
usually mix these half processed ingredients on
vending places and serve in reusable glasses.
Beverage vendors run their business on an
ambulant basis.
Precut fruits-pickles • Precut fruit vendors usually sale various seasonal vendors fruits and vegetables like carrot, cucumber,
pineapple, green mango, golden apple, black berries. Usually they peel the fruits/vegetables, cut
into pieces and mix with spices and served instantly
on reusable plates, pieces of newspapers and old
book papers.
• Pickles are sweet, sour, and spicy, made of
vegetables and green fruits; very popular food item
among the school children in Bangladesh. The
preparation process includes boiling vegetables
followed by drying, preserving in mustard oil, which
usually done at residence. Served with spoon/hand
on pieces of newspaper or old book paper
• Usually these types of vendors were found as
ambulant basis.
Pitha-flattened bread • Traditional pitha: These are traditional pitha or vendors native cakes. Usually prepared by rice/wheat flour,
sugar, jaggery, and other spices and served with mashed foods. Baked or fried made in various
shapes. Mashed foods are made of dry fishes,
chilies, salt and mustard oil. Preparation of
traditional pitha partially done at vendor’s residence
and usually bake these traditional pitha at vending
places and serve hot instantly to the customers.
Usually serve with bare hand on pieces of
newspaper or old book paper or plates.
• Flattened bread: Handmade bread. Served with
cooked vegetables, mashed foods or jaggery. Main
ingredients are rice/wheat flour, the dough is made
with water, flattened and then baked. Usually
prepared at vending place and serve with bare hand
on pieces of newspaper or old book paper or plates.
• Usually these types of vendors are both stationary
and ambulant basis.
Mixed puffed rice- • Mix puffed rice and mix Bombay mix are popular
Bombay mix (a traditional snacks items, available everywhere in Bangladesh. crisp snack consisting of Street food vendors are often found preparing and fried flour noodles, selling it as a mix with onion, chili, cucumber, peanuts, fried lentils, mustered oil. Sometimes Bombay mix is sold flavoring and spices) separately from puffed rice, mix with onion, chili, vendors cucumber and mustered oil, serve with spoon/hand
in a cone made from pieces of newspaper or old
book paper, or in a polythene bag. Some vendors
sell mixed puffed rice with boiled chick peas known
as “Ghugni” and mixture of spices. They prepare
ghugni and spices mixture at their home and mix
with puffed rice just before serving in their vending
time. Usually these types of vendors are ambulant
basis.