Street Fast Food of Patna Town: An Overview

 

Rani A.^1*, Srivastava A.²

¹Research Scholar (JRF), Dept. of Home Science, Magadh Mahila College, Patna University, Patna (Bihar)

 

ABSTRACT:

Objective: To obtain an overview of street fast food with respect to their trading and food items sold in the street of Patna town.

Method: A pilot study of Ph.D research was carried out.

Results: For urban people of Patna, consumption of street fast food is a worthwhile strategy as it contributes significantly to diet, helping people to meet their nutritional needs. Apart from providing wide range of commodities, energy/nutrients, endless variety in taste and choice and best way to enjoy the particular cuisine, street fast foods have the advantage of saving time and being relatively cheap. In addition availability of food at convenient times and locations for the consumer are other very important factors. However the personal hygiene of vendors and sanitary condition of environment in which they operate was far from satisfactory.

Conclusion: Street fast food of Patna town plays an important role in meeting the food requirement of urban dwellers. The industry feeds million of people and has potential of improving the food security. However unsatisfactory personal hygiene of vendors, sanitary condition of environment where the street fast food is prepared, stored and served, various ways of food preparation and cooking method are serious concerns of nutrition security.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Globalization is affecting food systems around the world by means of urbanization, increasing income, foreign investment and market liberalization ⁽¹⁾. Due to rapid urbanization taking place in many developing countries, street foods haves become increasing important as an income generating activity and a fast and economical meal option. Since entry into the field is largely unregulated and does not cost much upfront investment, it has become an increasingly popular way for families to earn a living⁽¹⁾. Street foods are ready to eat foods and beverages, prepared and/or sold by vendors and hawkers, especially on the street and other similar public places⁽²⁾. Fast food is the term given to food that is prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with less preparation time can be considered as fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in restaurants or stores with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take away.(encyclopedia)

Street fast food is a fast food sold on the streets or other public places, such as markets or fairs, by a hawkers or venders, often from a portable food booth, food cart or food truck.

 

Street fast foods are usually economical, socially and culturally appropriate items or meals. With many adults working long hours the use of street foods saves time in preparation of foods. Fuel costs are generally high in developing countries and buying street fast foods save not only on labor time but also on fuel costs. Furthermore, poor people often do not have adequate cooking facilities and space; hence purchasing ready –to-eat food is an advantage^(3,4). Another important advantage of street fast food trade is that of income generation. It requires less financial input and the skills involved are low and also there are no entry level barriers in this job. Street food sellers are also attracted to this occupation because of the possibility of earning relatively high income. In developing countries the average earning of a vender may be three to ten times than of the minimum wage and they are often comparable to the wages of skilled labourers employed in the formal sector⁽⁵⁾.

 

Unfortunately the use of street fast foods has many negative connotations. Street food has high amount of fat, high sugar, high salt, low fiber, and various types of additives and may influence the occurrence of non-communicable diseases and other nutrition-related conditions in the population⁽⁶⁾.

 

Street fast food scenario in Patna town:

Patna being the capital of Bihar is a very popular city and also one of the most populated cities⁽⁷⁾. Patna is a major institutional hub and also a tourist spot. Migration of youth and other people from rural areas and other parts of the country to Patna for better education and commercial business and for visiting heritage place of Patna, creates a heavy demand for inexpensive ready-to-eat food.

 

Street food micro-industries are vital for the economic planning and development of many towns ⁽⁵⁾. The contribution of street fast food to the economy of Patna town has been vastly under estimated and neglected. The significance of street food industry has often been undervalued because it is considered a part of informal sector⁽⁸⁾. However street fast food businesses are usually owned and operated by individuals or families. Their marketing success depends exclusively on location and word-of-mouth promotion but the benefits from their trade extend throughout the local economy. For instance vendors buy their fresh food directly from small scale farms and the farmers⁽⁵⁾.

 

The objective of the present study was to obtain an overview of street fast food with respect to their trading and food items sold in the streets of Patna town.

 

METHODS:

A pilot study of ph.D research was conducted during January to December 2015 in Patna town. Most of the streets, lanes, and sub lanes of different parts of Patna town were visited to observe street fast foods with respect to their trading and food items sold. Informations were collected on the basis of observation and informal talks with food vendors.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Table-1 Trading of street fast food

	Vendors	Mode of vending
A	Mobile street vendor	a.	Manually operated two wheeler or four wheeler carts, bicycles
		b.	Motor vehicles
		c.	Hawkers with head loads.
B	Fixed road side stalls	a.)Temporary stall	1) Fixed stands surrounded by tables and stools
			11) ) Manually operated carts stand at fixed places
		b.)Permanent stalls four walled cemented small stores or stores made from huts

 

Table-2 hygiene and sanitary condition

	Parameters	Observation
i.	Personal hygiene of vendors	Unsatisfactory
ii.	Food handling practice	Very poor
iii.	Water handling practice	Very poor
iv.	Hygiene of equipments	Not adequate
v.	Storage facilities	Not adequate
vi.	Waste management	Not adequate
vii.	Surrounding environment	Unsatisfactory

 

·        As evident from the table, there are two types of street vendor seen on the street of Patna town i, e. mobile and stationary. The mobile vending scenario reveals two distinct features i.e. traditional mode and modern mode of selling. In traditional selling, vendors/hawkers carried their food items on heads or shoulders. They had to move from place to place by lifting and hauling heavy loads of goods throughout the day. However they took the advantage of clientele and quick profit. In modern mode of selling, vendors carried their food products in small motor vans, taking the advantage of clientele and saved time and energy. However this minimized the profit margin. The stationary vendors took the advantage of environment and physical labor. Unfortunately there were less clientele and hence less profit.

 

Table-3 Diversity in street fast food

	Aspects of street fast food			Results obtained
A.	Seasonality			Food items	Beverages
	a.		summer	-	Aampanna, sattupani, lassi, wood applesharbat, shikanji, nimbu pani
	b.		winter	Tilkut, til kaladoo, jiggery based ground nut chakki	-
	c.		rainy	Roasted corn cobs	-
B.	Timing
	a.		Morning	Purijalebi, puribhaji, julabjamun, ghughni chura	Tea
	b.		Noon	Icecream, panipuri, chat, samosa, momos	Fruitjuice, lassi, shake, soft drinks, sharbat
	c.		Evening	Littichokha, rolls, chowmein, bhelpuri, idli, dosa, pakoras	Fruit juice, lassi, shake, soft drinks,
C.	Type of operation
	a.	Food prepared at vendors home and offered or sold to the public		Panipuri, bhelpuri, batatapuri, momo, idli	-
	b.	Food prepared and sold on the streets.		Samosa, chat, litti chokha, pakora, rolls, chawmin, dosa	Fruit juice, lassi, shake, sharbat
	c.	Foods prepared in a cottage type of factory and sold by vendors		Bread, bun, nimki, roasted, groundnut, popcorn, rusk	icegola, shikanji
	d.	Foods processed and packaged by industrial factories.		Packet of crips, icecream, candy, biscuits	soft drinks,
D.	Nature
	a.	Indigenous		littichokha, purijalebi, ghughni chura, samosa, nimkis, kulfi	Tae, sattupani, lassi, sharbat, aam panna
	b.	Exogenous		Bhelpuri, idli, dosa, momo, pavbhaji, burger, chawmin, rolls	soft drinks, sikanji
E.	Type
	a.	Processed		candies, chocolates, biscuits, crips	Softdrinks
	b.	Unprocessed		Littichokha, chaat, roll, momo, chole bhature, biryani	Tae, sattupani, lassi, sarbat, aam panna, fruit juice
F.	Food Groups
	a.	Cereals		Biryani, bhelpuri, , batatapori, chowmein, momo, idli, dosa	-
	b.	Pulses and legumes		Dahivada, chaat, cholebhature, idli, dosa	Sattu pani
	c.	Milk and milk product		Paneer chilli, icecream, sweets	shake, lassi
	d.	Fleshy food		Chicken chilli, kebab, eggroll	-
	e.	Green leafy vegetable		Veg roll, chowmein, manchurian	-
	f.	Root and tuber		Samosa, aloo chaat, alootikki, panipuri, chips	-
	g.	Other vegetables		Sandwitch, paobhaji, sambher	-
	h.	Sugar		Sweets, gheber, icecream	softdrinks, shikanji, sharbat
G.	Cooking Method
	a.	Baked		Littichokha, pasties, pizza, kebab	-
	b.	Fried		Samosa, pakora, hot chips	-
	c.	Steamed		Momo, idli	-
	d.	free zed		Ice cream	shake, softdrinks, ice gola, shikanji
H.	Cooking State
	a.	Raw		Bhelpuri, chana bhaji,	sattupani, lassi, sharbat, , fruit juice/shake
	b.	Semi cooked		Burger, pao bhaji, pizza, roll, panipuri	Aam panna
	c.	Fully cooked		Samosa, chaat, chole bhature	-
I.	Consistency
	a.	Solid		Noodles, pizza, burgor, rolls, sandwitch	-
	b.	Semi solid		Chaat, panipuri, cholebhature, manchurian	-
	c.	Liquid		-	sattupani, lassi, sharbat, , fruit juice/shake
J.	Nutrients
	a.	Energy		Samosa, pizza, burgor, pavbhaji, puri jalabi, cholebhature, noodles, cakes, chips, sweets	soft drinks
	b.	Carbohydrates		Cake, biryani, chowmein, samosa, idli, dosa, momo, chips	soft drinks, sharbat
	c.	Protein		Chicken chilli, paneerchilli, cholebhature, kebab, dahivada,
	d.	Fat		Pizza, samosa, pakora, burger	-
	e.	micronutrients		Manchurian, roll	Lassi, fruit juice, shake, nimbu pani
	f.	Fibre		Chole, rolls, Manchurian	Wood apple sharbat

 

·        The study using an observational checklist shows that food vendors were not following minimum food safety and personal hygiene practices. This may constitute a potential vehicle for the emergence of the food borne diseases.

 

·        Study provides evidence that different types of street fast food were sold in different seasons on the streets of Patna town. Beverages like aam panna, sattu pani, lassi, wood apple sharbat, shikanji, nimbu pani were gifts of summer season and helped the people to beat the heat. Snacks like tilkut, til ka ladoo, jaggary based ground nut chikki were more common in winter season. These are the ways through which people enjoy the cuisine ofa particular season. Furthermore the vendors got freshly harvested raw materials conveniently and at low cost. Eating hot roasted corn cob while watching rainfall was really fantastic in the rainy season.

 

·         Street fast foods were available almost round the clock right from 6am to 10 pm particularly in summer season, depending upon the need and choice of consumers. In the mornings for people particularly on daily wages, such as labors that leave their homes early morning in search of work, street fast food was one of the means of breakfast. For office going adults and school children it served as an attractive snack at noon and in the evening it acted as a source of recreation and outing for the young population.

 

·        Four distinct categories of street fast food could be identified on the streets of Patna town i.e. food prepared at vendors home and brought it to the food stall for sale and not required to carry utensils and fuel for cooking food items; foods prepared and sold on the street providing freshly made food to the consumer taking advantage of clientele as everyone wants to eat freshly prepared hot cooked food; foods prepared in a cottage type of factory and food processed and packaged by industrial factories had the advantage that food could be easily handled by vendors and taken to home by buyers.

 

·        The streets of Patna town were offered a variety of regional and traditional foods and contributed to the preservation of local traditions and strengthened the regional and traditional food habits and was an attractive way for tourists to find regional foods. However there were many ethnic groups in Patna town and as a result the street fast foods also represented a mixed cuisine including food from different parts of the country as well as international fare. Furthermore many people, who were poor and could not afford food from retail stores, gratified their taste buds through the food that street vendors provided.

 

·        Most of food items sold were prepared by vendors themselves (unprocessed).However foods processed by large scale manufacturers are also an important category of items sold, particularly with regard to snack foods such as candies, chocolates, biscuits and crisps. The positive connotation of processed food was that it had longer shelf life with no need to worry about leftover food as it was not spoiled easily and required no or little storage facilities. However the nutritional value of processed food was certainly less than the food cooked by vendors.

 

·        It appears that street vended foods included food as diverse as cereals, pulses, dairy products, fleshy foods, fruits, vegetables and sugar. Cereal and pulse products, products that have been adequately sugared have been recognized as to support bacterial growth less readily than dairy, egg and meat products. Foods prepared from fruits and vegetables consumed just after preparations are safe.

 

·        The streets of Patna town were filled with a variety of foods depending upon cooking methods, cooking state and consistency. It was recognized that the risk of contamination varies greatly with these characteristics. With respect to cooking method it was found that generally, fried and baked products with low moisture content support bacterial growth less readily than steamed and free zed products. Similarly an account of cooking state, fully cooked foods are safer. Semi cooked foods and dishes containing raw ingredients were high risk items. As regards consistency it was observed that solid food support bacterial growth less readily than semi solid and liquid food. Apart from risk of contamination, the nutritional value of food is also affected with the type of street fast food and how the food is prepared. Generally fried food shows much loss of nutrients than baked, steamed and frozen food. Foods with high moisture content show lower nutritional value.

 

·        It was observed that the nutritional composition of street fast food of Patna town was predominated by high energy dense food with variable quantity and quality of protein and poor in vitamins because these foods were generally cereals and root and tuber based fried foods. The composition of street fast foods could be associated with the main challenges in the public health area.

 

CONCLUSION:

For urban people of Patna, consumption of street fast food is a worthy strategy as it contributes significantly to diet helping people to meet their nutritional needs. Apart from providing wide range of commodities, energy/nutrients, catering to all taste and choice and best way to enjoy the particular cuisine, street fast foods have the advantage of saving time and being relatively cheap. In addition availability of food at convenient times and locations for the consumer are other very important factors. However the personal hygiene of vendors and sanitary condition of environment in which they operate is quite unsatisfactory and unacceptable. In summery Street fast food of Patna town has the potential of improving the food security. However unsatisfactory personal hygiene of vendors, sanitary condition of environment where the street fast food is sold, various ways of food preparation and cooking method are serious concerns of nutrition security.

 

REFERENCES:

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3.       Mwangi, A.M, den Hartog A.P, Foeken D.W.J. et al. (2001)The ecology of street foods in Nairobi. Ecol Food Nutr 40, 497–523.

4.       Drabo, K.M, Toe L.P, Savadogo, L.G et al. (2009) Main characteristics of the street food sector in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Bull Soc Pathol Exot 102, 36–40.

5.       Winarno, F.G and Allian, A.(1991)Street food in developing countries : lesions from Asia, Food, Nutrition and Agriculture.vol-1

6.       Nonato, I.L, Minussi, L.O.D.A, Pascoal, G.B, et al.(2016)Nutritional Issues Concerning Street Foods, J.Clin Nutr. Diet, 2:1.

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Received on 22.07.2016

Modified on 21.09.2016

Accepted on 07.10.2016

© A&V Publication all right reserved

Research J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 7(4): October- December, 2016, 268-272.

DOI:  10.5958/2321-5828.2016.00042.5