Food & water · 6 min
Food and water on the road: sensible precautions
You do not need to avoid street food. You do need to think about water.
The rule you hear everywhere — cook it, peel it or forget it — is simple but excessively cautious. It removes half the point of travelling without reducing the risk much.
Water first
This is where it matters, not on the plate.
Across much of Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, travellers stick to bottled or treated water. Check that the cap seal is intact.
Ice deserves the same attention as water: it is made from local water. In a large hotel it usually comes from treated water; at a street stall, not necessarily.
Remember your toothbrush. That is the most common oversight.
Treating your own water
On a long trip or a trek, buying bottles is expensive and produces a lot of waste, sometimes where nothing is collected.
Purification tablets are light, cheap and treat a large volume. They need contact time: respect the duration on the packaging, or they achieve nothing.
A filter bottle is more convenient day to day but heavier, and the cartridge needs replacing.
Food
The useful criterion is not street food versus restaurant, but turnover. A stall with a long queue serves food cooked to order; a lukewarm buffet that has been sitting for two hours is riskier, whatever the establishment.
Favour anything served piping hot. Be wary of reheated dishes, room-temperature sauces, and raw salads washed in tap water.
Fruit you peel yourself remains a safe bet.
If it goes wrong
A travel stomach upset is usually mild and resolves on its own within one to three days. The real issue is dehydration, particularly in serious heat.
Oral rehydration sachets exist for exactly this: they restore the salt and sugar balance that water alone does not. It is the single most useful thing to carry in this category.
See a doctor locally in case of high fever, blood in the stool, vomiting that prevents any hydration, symptoms lasting beyond three days, or for a young child. Those situations are not to be managed alone.
This guide describes general precautions and does not replace medical advice.