I just got this really neat lunchbox/pail from my friend at a garage sale last week. I knew that she brought it back from India and I looked it up on the web and searched for 'indian lunch box', which I figured would turn up some information about this new treasure. I found an amazing amount of info about the container which it turns out is called a 'tiffin' or 'tiffin tin' or 'dabba' (Hindi word) which seemed to have been popularized in India during the British rule (according to Wikipedia) . I found an article about the people who deliver these containers to workers at lunch time in Mumbai. One of the most amazing things is their rate of error in delivery is extremely low, almost non-existent. This is stunning, considering that it is estimated that the delivery people (dabbawalas) deliver around 175,000 dabbas over lunchtime. In the end, I am curious as to the actual origins of the container British or Indian? I found a few articles that people said they are popular for kids to use as lunch boxes in Thailand also, hmmm.... Lastly, I found a link to another popular spice container when I searched for 'daba' and I found a masala dabba, check it out here.
No comments:
Post a Comment