五個提示助你降低吃街頭食品的健康風險

Is street food inherently more risky than eating in a restaurant when you travel? Sometimes, and it depends. Children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems are certainly more at risk of getting ill, and may be best off avoiding street eats. But there are certain precautionary measures healthy travelers can take before scarfing their tacos or mystery-meat kebabs that will minimize the chances of bringing home more than just a suitcase full of sweatshop-made tchotchkes as souvenirs. Read on.

旅遊時在街頭用餐是不是比在餐館用餐的風險更大呢？某些時候，是的。如兒童、老人和免疫系統受損的人患病風險更高，故應避免街頭食品。但旅客在食用玉米餅或特製烤羊肉串前也可以採取一些健康的預防措施，這就避免了帶回家的只是滿箱子血汗工廠製造的小紀念品。請看以下方法。

1. Is there a crowd? Just like at home, go where the locals go, as they obviously know where to find the good stuff. But high volume also means that food is being prepared fresh, rather than sitting around attracting flies and turning into something useful for waging biological warfare.

1、是否擁擠？就像在國內一樣，跟着本地人走，因爲他們知道哪裏可以找到好東西。人多吵雜的地方意味着那裏的食物是新鮮準備的，而不像有些餐館靜得只有蒼蠅在飛，從而變成細菌戰。

2. Are basic hygiene practices being implemented by the vendor(s)? In Mexico, I've frequently observed street vendors slipping clean plastic bags over plates. With every order, a new bag is used, then discarded at the end of the meal. It's an eco-nightmare, but it's a lot more sanitary than dunking a plate in a bucket of dingy water doubling as a petri dish. Also bear in mind that in many parts of the world, the left hand performs double-duty as toilet.paper. I can't say it enough: Look at the sanitation practices before ordering.

2、店家（們）是否有基本的衛生習慣？在墨西哥，我經常看到攤販用乾淨塑料袋裝盤子。每一個訂單都使用新的袋子，餐後再把袋子扔掉。雖說這是生態的噩夢，但卻勝於把盤子扔進重複使用的髒水中而成爲細菌滋生地。我們也應記住，世界上許多地方的人是用左手完成如廁動作的。我不能說這就足夠了，但在下單之前應瞭解其衛生狀況。

You'll often find co-workers whose sole responsibility is to handle money, to avoid cross-contaminating food (this isn't always the case, however, so sometimes you'll just have to--literally--suck it up). Once, when I accidentally handed my money to the wrong guy, he turned his hand upside-down to avoid contact with my filthy coins.

你常常會發現，同事一般都會自己負責給錢，以避免食物的交叉污染（雖並非總如此，但有時你必須按字面意思去做即可）。有一次，我不小心把錢給錯了人，結果他將手翻過來，避免接觸到我那髒髒的硬幣。

3. Is the stand or cart clean and well-maintained? Is hot food kept hot or cooked to order, and is cold food cold? Is purified water or ice used for beverages and frozen treats?

3、攤位或推車是否保持整潔？熟食是否還熱，或是下單時即煮？生冷食物是否還冷？是純淨水或是冰水和冰品？

4. Are the ingredients fresh? If you've got eyes, a nose, and some tastebuds, you can figure this out for yourself. I look at the condiments and garnishes to determine if I want to eat at a given stand or cart. If I see crusty bowls of salsa, dessicated limes, slimy herbs, or flies congregated on any raw foods I might potentially eat, I'm out of there.

4、原料是否新鮮？你可以用你的眼睛、鼻子和味蕾來分辨。我會先看看攤販的調味品和配菜，再來決定是否要在特定的攤位或推車吃東西。如果我看到邋遢的沙拉、乾乾的酸橙、粘粘的香料，或是我想吃的食物原料上停着蒼蠅，我馬上離開那裏。

If you're in a coastal region, it pays to do a bit of homework on the cleanliness of the local fresh and ocean water supplies; algae blooms or cholera outbreaks will be widely reported. Try to avoid eating raw river fish or seafood, or river fish/seafood from just offshore; remember that many developing island nations and coastal regions use high tide as their toilet. If you're eating pork in the Third World, always make sure it's well-cooked. While trichinosis has effectively been eradicated from our domestic industrial pork supply, the disease is prevalent in other parts of the world. And not to get too graphic, but you'll often find pigs in rural parts of the developing world lurking around latrines, searching for a snack.

如果你在沿海地區，你就要對當地的事物有所瞭解，如干淨新鮮的海產品、水藻，以及廣泛報道的霍亂疫情。儘量避免吃生河魚或海鮮或近海地區的海產品。要謹記，許多發展中島國和沿海地區以海潮作爲他們的廁所。如果你在第三世界吃豬肉，一定要確保肉已煮熟，雖然國內的豬肉供應工業已有效根除了毛線蟲病，但該疾病還普遍存在於世界其它地區。但也不要太講究形象，在發展中國家的農村地區你經常會看到豬圍在廁所周圍覓食。

Fresh ingredients don't necessarily mean great food, but it helps. Delicious street food is ulimately a reflection of the loving care that goes into its preparation. Are the carnitas slightly crispy on the outside, with an interior succulent with greasy goodness? Is the masa in the tamales moist, with a sweet, earthy corn flavor? Are the noodles slightly toothsome, the herbs fresh and bright-tasting, the broth fragrant and piping hot? These things matter.

新鮮的食材並不意味着好吃，但卻有益。美味的街頭食物是一種精心準備的親切關懷。carnitas外表略脆，裏面卻多汁油膩嗎？溼潤的玉米粉蒸肉充滿着泥土的氣息？美味的麪條、清新亮麗的香草、甜美的熱肉湯？這些都是你要關心的問題。

5. Use hand sanitizer before eating, take probiotics with live active cultures prophylactically, and pack a broad-spectrum gastrointestinal antibiotic and Imodium, just in case. I'm just saying.

5、飯前是否用洗手液洗手？吃的益生菌是否有活性益生菌羣標誌？是否是包裝的胃腸道抗生素瀉立停？我想說的是，以防萬一。