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8 Can't Miss Street Foods in Amman, Jordan

A local chef tells us the best things to eat on the street in the Jordanian capital.


Amman, Jordan. Photo courtesy of Ronald Woan/Flickr.

In the Middle East, the history of street food goes back a long way. There are stories of people in Cairo bringing their own pieces of rawhide upon which to have makeshift picnics, after buying their lunch from street sellers. In 1502, Ottoman Turkey was apparently the first place to regulate the sale of street foods. Amman, Jordan, is no exception to the street food obsession: Like billions of people worldwide, the population of this city consumes food from street vendors every single day.

I grew up in Amman at a time when it was a small sleepy city in the hills of Jordan, surrounded by vast empty spaces. Even then, food vendors would roam the streets of downtown with their offerings—aside from a handful of restaurants, this was the way people ate out most of the time. Things have changed since those days, particularly because there are many more people, and foods, in the city nowadays—the product of all the refugees who have made Amman their home over the last couple of decades.

Based on my experiences in this city as a local and a chef, I’ve got some favorites for the best street foods and snacks in Amman today.

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  Hae Mee Tng (Prawn Noodle Soup)

  Singapore
  plane
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  Lebanese Cider

  Lebanon
  jessie
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  Yong Tau Foo

  Singapore
  plane
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  Guan’s Mee Pok and Bak Chor Mee

  Singapore
  plane

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