I eat food from street vendors all the times - dirty water dogs, chestnuts, Mystery Meat on a Stick, and it's all good. How safe is it? I can't remember ever getting sick afterwards.

I live a 10 minute drive from the Hudson River, and I see people fishing quite often. I hope they're simply doing it for sport, because there's not a chance I would eat anything that came from there, especially living near a former GM plant that was on the river, not to mention the nuclear facility that's also nearby.