Greasy, carb-heavy or salty, most snacks aren’t what you’d call a well-rounded meal, but every country and culture has them. More than food, snacks are a social event, a celebration of culture and unabashed indulgence. Here are the top 20 snacks and street-foods from all over the world:
1. Pirozhki (Russia)
Pirozhki (singular pirozhok) are buns that are fried or baked to golden perfection and stuffed with (typically) savory fillings, such as beef, cabbage, mushrooms, and mashed potatoes.
2. Börek (Balkans and Turkey)
A common snack in Anatolia and the Balkan Peninsula, böreks are baked and filled pastries made with several layers of thin filo dough. Börek fillings vary but tend to be salty, including spinach, potatoes, and feta cheese.
3. Kürtőskalács (Hungary)
This delicious pipe-shaped sweet is a spit cake, a pastry created by adding layers onto a rotating spit and baked over an open fire or using a specialized oven (think of the way döner kebab is made). It is made of sweet yeast dough, white sugar and obscene amounts of butter.
4. Supplì (Italy)
Similar to Sicilian arancini, supplì is a popular Roman snack consisting of rice balls filled with mozzarella, dipped in egg, coated in bread crumbs and deep fried.
5. Sabih (Israel)
Named for its inventor, an Iraqi-Jew immigrant to Israel, this pita sandwich contains fried eggplant slices, hard-boiled egg, salad, amba (pickled mango) and a spicy Yemenite condiment known as zhug (optional).