Street Food Quality in Dhaka City

                                    Street food quality in Dhaka city

                                         Mohammad shah zaman

                                           North south university

Abstract

Street food is common throughout the world. Due to the influence of globalization, different types of street food has mixed up in our culture. “According to a study from the food & agriculture organization, around 2.5 billion people eat street food every day throughout world”. ((Street food, 2007) the quality & hygiene factors of street food are very important for our health. My purpose of the research is to find out what people think about the quality of the street of in Dhaka city? What steps public health department should take to ensure the quality of the street food? I have conducted a survey on 43 people at NSU & BASHUNDHARA R\A as my primary research. I also took help from online articles as my secondary research. Through this, I have found my maximum answers which are in some extent support my hypothesis & some do not support my hypothesis. The research is showing us some interesting results from which we can judge what the people of Dhaka city think about the quality of the street food.

Introduction

Who doesn’t like food? We have to eat to survive & live a healthy life. Some people eat food in order to live & some people only live to eat their desire food. Everyone on this earth have some desire to have some specific food that they really love. Street food is common throughout the world. Everyone May be once in a while have street food in their life. “Street food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold by hawkers or vendors, in a street or other public places such as at the market places or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and meant for immediate consumption. Some street foods are regional, but many have spread beyond their region of origin. Most street foods are classified as both finger food and fast food, and are way cheaper on average than restaurant meals. According to a 2007 study from the Food and Agriculture Organization, 2.5 billion people eat street food every day.”(Street food, 2007)

In this project, I am going to discuss about the street food quality in Dhaka city. As Dhaka is one of the most densely populated city & capital of Bangladesh, a lot of employees, bachelors, students & other people are live here & they are the potential customer of the street food. They are also the regular customers of the street food, as it is very cheap & ready to serve. But the quality & the hygiene factors are big concern in here. The items of the street food in Dhaka city mostly are: Chotpoti-Fushka, Chola-Peaju, Beguni, Shingara, Chomusa, Puri, Pakora, Kabab, Chicken fry, Noodles, Burger; Ice-cream, nut-peanut, Jhalmuri, Pickles, Jilapi etc. As street food is open to air, it’s not well protected or covered from road side dust. Sometimes the cook is not clean or don’t take proper procedures or wear gloves to prepare the foods. The quality of the food ingredients, oil & the water are not up to the standard. And these unhygienic food can bring serious health issues to our society & these may lead to some waterborne and food-borne illnesses too. People can get bacterial and viral infections eating contaminated food. The bacteria can be passed from the hands of the food vendors or by the unhygienic way they prepare and serve the food. Through this research, I want to find how people think/feel about street food? What are the diseases they may face? Do they dependent on street food or not? Does the food really help people to satisfy their meal or not?

Research questions

Through this research I am going to address the following research questions:

1. What is street food? What are the items of street food in Dhaka city?
2. Why do people eat street food in Dhaka city?
3. How do people think/ feel about street food?
4. Do people depend on street food? & what extent they depend on the street food?
5. Does the street food really satisfy our hunger?
6. Does the street food is safe for our health?
7. What types of diseases may occur due to street food consumption?
8. How do people can avoid street food?
9. What types of steps public health department can take to ensure the street food quality in Dhaka city?

Hypotheses

From my research, I expected to find that people may have positive attitudes/feelings toward street food in Dhaka city. Most of the bachelors, students or employees may be the potential customer of the street food as they live bachelor & busy life in Dhaka city. Since ready food is very convenient to have & cheap, this could be the main reason for them to depend on the street food. As street food is not hygienic, sometimes people may encounter waterborne diseases or food poisoning. I expect, public health department should consider this matter seriously. They can inspect the food quality time to time & give some sort of legal authorization to do the street food business in Dhaka city.                                           

Research methodology

For my primary research, I conducted a survey at NSU & BASHUNDHARA R/A to find the answers for my research questions. I collected their feedback. I wanted to know their perception about street food quality in Dhaka city & the main reasons behind the consumption of the street food. I have conducted survey on 43 students at NSU. I am also getting help from google & other online articles from newspaper & magazines to get possible & relevant information which will help to write my research paper.  

Limitation of research

While doing research anyone may face some constraints or obstacles. Similarly I also faced some issues while doing the survey for my research. The limitations are as follows: I had to make questionnaire for my survey which should be relevant to the research questions. To prepare a precise & good research paper, I need to get relevant answers from the people whom I am going to conduct the survey. Which is quite difficult and challenging. There are some possibility that the respondents won’t give proper & honest answers. The time period is also very short. That’s why my sample size is very small & had to conduct the survey only on 43 people. That may gave me a misguiding & contradictory findings. I have collected the data from a very small sample size that won’t give me 100% accurate information.