Background: Food hygiene is an important concept to prevent food–borne illnesses and outbreaks. Perceptions, beliefs and practices of food handlers regarding food hygiene play an important role. But they are usually deprived of awareness related to basic principles of food handling due to lack of Government policies on mandatory training of vendors. So, there is a need to study street food vendors’ perceptions to formulate guidelines and policies on food safety and hygiene. Methodology: Face–to–face interviews were conducted among 130 street food vendors by using semi–structured, interviewer–administered questionnaire. Informed consent was obtained from each participant. Results: Out of 130 street food vendors, majority (88.5%) were males. Importance of food hygiene was known to 97.7% vendors. Only 16.2% vendors were wearing gloves while handling food. None of the vendors had ever attended any food safety training. Conclusion: Although majority of vendors knew the concept of food hygiene, yet it was not translated into practice. There is a need to bridge this gap between perceptions and practices by providing adequate facilities and training.