Sometimes the finest dining a country has to offer isn't in a Michelin-starred restaurant -- it's within a few feet of spinning Michelin tires.
Street food is the true fuel of the people, and there's no better way to get to know a country's cuisine than by hitting up a food stall and digging into a home-style meal.
With a combination of personal experience, advice from experienced travelers, and research on cultural food traditions, we've put together a ranking of the 16 best street-food cities in the world.
And while basically every major city in Southeast Asia had a shot at being No. 1, read on to find out whether the city that serves tacos, dumplings, or grilled cow udders is the king of the street-food world.
SEE ALSO: 5 tasty Taiwanese snacks — and one very strange street food
Cartagena, Colombia
This walled South American treasure has one of the fresher street-food scenes on this list. Juice, fruit, and macheted coconuts are everywhere, as are little plastic cups of sugary Colombian coffee. Ceviche and shrimp cocktails remind you that you're on the coast, and arepas and empanadas have the savory pastry game on lock; for the gluttons, they deep-fry everything from cheese to pig feet. Although it's all delicious, Cartagena's place on this list would rise if they had more variety and ways to distinguish themselves from the rest of South America.
Known for: Empanadas, arepas, shrimp cocktails, fresh juice and fruit, kebabs
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Eating in Brazil can be surprisingly expensive, but luckily street food comes to the rescue. Brazil's most sleeper snack is pão de queijo, warm little balls of cheese bread that are found just about everywhere. The city revolves around the beach, so naturally there'd be some killer eats along the waterfront. Vendors pace along the beach screaming out their offerings, which range from skewered shrimp, to savory fried pastel pastries, to hunks of cheese roasted to order on tiny grills.
If you've ever been to a Fogo de Chão, you know Brazil loves its grilled meats, and you'll see plenty of multi-meat kebabs outside bars here. Wash them down with a cup of superfruit in the form of acai, but be sure to ask for a small or else you'll end up with a bowl as big as your head.
Known for: Pão de queijo cheese balls, fried savory pastries, tapioca crepes, kebabs, acai smoothies
Istanbul, Turkey
Doner kebab might be Turkey's greatest export (or Germany's greatest innovation depending on who you ask), but there's plenty more to the streets of the city formerly known as Constantinople (been a long time gone, Constantinople). Istanbul's close relationship with their neighboring seas is evident in balik ekmek sandwiches, which top a grilled filet of mackerel with greens, onions, and a squeeze of lemon. More fruit of the sea comes in the form of rice-stuffed mussels, while those looking for a funkier meat might turn to kokoreç, aka spitted lamb intestines.
Then there are the equivalent of dollar slices, a thin-dough pizza called lahmacun that's spread with a mix of minced beef, lamb, and peppers that you roll up and stuff into your face. This would've placed higher if Berlin didn't have the doner kebab game on lock.
Known for: Doner kebab, sesame simit bread, balik ekmek fish sandwiches, Turkish-style lahmacun pizzas
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