Street food in Brazil: food styles in the daily life of a Brazilian city

As a global phenomenon street food plays a significant role in urban food consumption. Connected with everyday life of city dwellers it has become popular as a cheap alternative to ready-to-eat foods. The paper aims to analyze how street food functions within the daily life of a medium sized Brazilian city, Juiz de Fora, the patterns of food consumption associated with variations in its rhythms and temperatures, and the attachment of city places to food experience. It furthermore discusses street food vending as part of the informal economy that enables marginalized groups such as jobless women and migrants to generate the income needed to sustain their families. Lastly, the paper reports on a qualitative study conducted through participatory observation and interviews with street food vendors and consumers in the central area of the city.