Street food - it probably won't kill you

I owe a lot to my parents.  They were supportive of my odd interests and patient when I was a bizarrely overdramatic teenager.  

I tried to rebel by shaving my head - they thought it was cool.  

I got a tattoo - my dad loved it and got one too.  

Sigh - the troubles of a first world rebel.  

But the the best thing they gifted me was a passion for travel.  

Not only that, but my father told me that no matter where I go, the street food will always be better than anything I can get in a restaurant.  And after traveling to 20-plus countries over I-don't-want-to-say-how-many years, I can say that his advice has never steered me wrong.

Case in point - in Taiyuan I had one of the best foods I've ever had ever: a thin pancake cooked on a hot griddle; when it started to bubble, the woman tending the stall broke the bubble with chopsticks and poured in some beaten eggs.  She then flipped over the pancake and smoothed out the eggs, let it brown, then basted it in not one, not two, but three different chili sauces, and then wrapped it around shredded sour & spicy potatoes, lettuce, green onions, and cilantro.  

No matter where you travel, there will always be people warning you away from eating the foods sold by street vendors - never mind that there are dozens of locals lined up who eat there every day and have somehow evaded death - you mustn't do it!   Don't listen.  Eat whatever the hell you want, enjoy it and go on your merry way, dancing past terrified tourists at the local McDonalds.  (Unless of course your local McDonalds happens to be featuring the seaweed-flavored "shake-shake fries".  In that case, go there.)

This is the food of the gods.