Top street foods from around the world

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu burnished his 'everyman' appeal with a stop at a falafel stand in Israel during a campaign tour in 2009. We rate falafel as one of the world's best street foods. See more pictures of fast food.

Street food is the heart and soul of international cuisine. These are the comfort foods we crave at 1 a.m. when the bars are closing and stomachs are rumbling. Though often imitated by restaurants, they taste best when scooped onto a paper plate or wrapped in wax paper and eaten standing up, stains and all.

Street food is also the stuff of national pride. Any attempt to compose a list of the world's best street foods is bound to start a fight. There were so many amazing local delicacies to choose from, some ground rules had to be made:

Cover as much of the globe as possible. Asia alone could fill a list of the top 100 street foods, but I've tried to spread the love.

Stick to local specialties. Some of the dishes on this list can be found elsewhere on the map, but all of them are light-years better at home.

Sorry, America. Hot dogs, hamburgers and french fries are excellent street food, but we're going beyond the U.S. this time.

When in doubt, I let my personal taste be the tie-breaker. Call me biased, but I've never met a Mexican street food I didn't love.