Purpose: The patronage of street food is familiar in many countries where unemployment level is high, salaries are low, work opportunities and social programmes are limited and where urbanization is taking place. The general objective of the study was to establish role of cooked food vending in urban areas.
Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps.
Findings: The study concludes that income levels influenced the frequency of consumption of cooked food. An income allowed vendees the opportunity to purchase food from the street conveniently since the food was cheap. Foods offered were those that took longer to cook (therefore needed much fuel) and those which were involving in preparation for example chapatti and mandazi (buns). Vendees of cooked foods were mainly single men (71.9 %) who were more comfortable buying cooked foods from the streets as they found ready-to-eat food not only cheap but also convenient. Additionally they viewed cooking as a women’s domain, thus preferred cooked food in street, as it was ready to eat.
Recommendations: There is need for government to be supportive to this sector by providing the vendors with appropriate facilities where they can carry out their business, including well-designed shelters and ample supply of potable water. This should be done in consultation with the vendors in order to develop user-friendly sites. The cooked food vendors should be empowered. This can be done by offering the vendors affordable loans to expand their business and training them on issues pertaining to their business like bookkeeping and management of accounts as well as how to save and re-invest profits made
Susceptibility to Exposure to Heterocyclic Amines from Cooked Food: Role of UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases