Tasting the local cuisine of a city is absolutely essential to understanding that city’s identity, past and present. In most cities you will find restaurants that offer some typical foods, though if they’re aimed at tourists you can expect to find higher-than-normal prices and watered-down flavors. Short of accepting an invitation to dine at a local’s house, your best bet for local cuisine will often be on the street.

The street is where a city’s history collides with the modern day, where old traditions exist alongside such newfangled developments as designer stores and fast-food palaces. It’s where the poor mingle with the well-off over a light lunch, where tourists can interact with locals of all stripes–and often score the best food at dirt-cheap prices.

Meaningful, delicious, authentic street eats are not only found in big foreign cities with famous food cultures, like Bangkok and Mexico City: Even in a city like New York, the simple act of buying a hot dog on the street links you with a century’s worth of New Yorkers who have done the same. But it’s in those other cities where street food poses the bigger perceived risk, and where tourists are more likely to shy away from the street altogether for fear of getting sick. By heeding the following advice, you can drastically decrease your chances of falling ill from eating well on the street (or anywhere else, for that matter).

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