Chef Jay Fai wears a wool cap and safety goggles to ward off the heat from the charcoal fires in the alley where she cooks all of the restaurant's meals. She is such a perfectionist that she doesn't let anyone on her staff do the cooking. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
A street vendor makes huaraches and quesadillas on the sidewalk in the piñata district in Los Angeles. LA is the only major U.S. city where selling food on the sidewalk is illegal. President Trump's immigration policies have pushed the city council to change the law. But the devil is in the details. Camellia Tse for NPR hide caption
Vada pav is Mumbai's most iconic street food. But its main ingredients – potato, bread and chilies – were in fact introduced to the subcontinent by European colonizers. Krista/Flickr hide caption
A man drinks aloo pokhara, a heart-comforting prune juice in Islamabad. Abdul Sattar/NPR hide caption
Tijuana street vendor Fidencio Rodriguez displays a freshly made batch of tostilocos, a unique border snack making inroads in the U.S. Kainaz Amaria/NPR hide caption