Haitian street foods and their nutritional contribution to dietary intake

Street food is a common source of food eaten outside the home in developing countries. The contribution of street foods to the daily nutrient intake has not been adequately addressed in dietary assessment research, in spite of its universality. To establish a base of knowledge regarding street foods from a nutritional standpoint, a three month pilot study was conducted in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during the fall of 1983. One hundred forty-six street food items were identified and classified. Market unit size, cost and caloric and protein values per market unit were determined. A food frequency questionnaire was developed and administered to Haitian secondary school children from varied school tuition categories to assess their street food consumption. Results revealed a wide range of consumption frequencies. The average consumption of calories and protein for the 174 person sample were found to be 401 kcalories and 5.8g of protein. Significant differences in consumption values were found between socioeconomic levels. Little variation was found between age groups. Street food consumption was found to contribute 18% of the recommended dietary allowance for the Caribbean for calories and 15% for protein. Based on a daily nutrient intake of 1580 kcalories and 37g of protein for urban school children, 25% of the calories and 16% of the protein in the overall diet were found to be provided by street foods.