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October 8, 2015 10:31 AM Subscribe
Dabbawalla: Fast, efficient, and proud, Mumbai’s teams of home-to-work lunch couriers connect families through meals cooked with love.
Continuing a tradition that dates back to the 19th century, Mumbai’s dabbawalla food delivery services consist of teams who transport meals cooked by wives and mothers at home to husbands and sons at work. Dabbawalla translates literally as ‘one who carries a box’, after the word for the boxes (‘dabbas’) in which the food is transported. Usually clad in all-white outfits and matching hats, and frequently seen carrying large crates of dabbas over their heads, dabbawallas are renowned for their remarkable efficiency and error-free service.
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Continuing a tradition that dates back to the 19th century, Mumbai’s dabbawalla food delivery services consist of teams who transport meals cooked by wives and mothers at home to husbands and sons at work. Dabbawalla translates literally as ‘one who carries a box’, after the word for the boxes (‘dabbas’) in which the food is transported. Usually clad in all-white outfits and matching hats, and frequently seen carrying large crates of dabbas over their heads, dabbawallas are renowned for their remarkable efficiency and error-free service.
If you like these, a few more from Perennial Plate:
A commons sense: Poor Indian farmers are rich in two things: knowledge and biodiversity. The future of food depends on preserving both
Bhiwani junction: A 12-year-old Indian boxer dreams of fighting his way to glory, or a government job. Can a brutal sport be redemptive?
I visited Mumbai recently and watched the dabbawallahs handing off lunch boxes near the train station downtown. What was amazing to me was how informal it all ways, just a spot on the sidewalk where they drop tiffins and pick up other tiffins. No marking, no organization, no tables. Just efficiently getting the job done, calmly.
posted by Nelson at 10:46 AM on October 8, 2015
posted by Nelson at 10:46 AM on October 8, 2015
And see also the eChoupal system (lots of case study versions in PDF about, too).
posted by clew at 10:46 AM on October 8, 2015
posted by clew at 10:46 AM on October 8, 2015
Jesus. If a Dabbawalla doesn't show up at my desk in the next ten minutes I swear I will tantrum like a baby.
And India is so incomprehensible. It makes zero sense to do this. It has to be the least effiecent method on earth of getting calories into a body. And yet they persist. It's what makes India so completely awesome.
posted by Keith Talent at 11:17 AM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
And India is so incomprehensible. It makes zero sense to do this. It has to be the least effiecent method on earth of getting calories into a body. And yet they persist. It's what makes India so completely awesome.
posted by Keith Talent at 11:17 AM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
It makes zero sense to do this.
Maybe it makes sense if people need to do something with their days and if you have a billion people striving for efficiency would leave too many people without something to do.
posted by kokaku at 11:27 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Maybe it makes sense if people need to do something with their days and if you have a billion people striving for efficiency would leave too many people without something to do.
posted by kokaku at 11:27 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
It has to be the least effiecent method on earth of getting calories into a body.
JUST CHISEL A TACOCOPTER OUT OF STONE WHY DON'T YOU
posted by XMLicious at 11:29 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's worth remembering the secret ingredient here - really cheap labor.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [11 favorites]
Maybe it makes sense if people need to do something with their days and if you have a billion people striving for efficiency would leave too many people without something to do.
Yeah, I kinda meant to make that point and then got antsy with the post button. Most of what makes sense in India makes sense nowhere else in the world.
posted by Keith Talent at 11:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I kinda meant to make that point and then got antsy with the post button. Most of what makes sense in India makes sense nowhere else in the world.
posted by Keith Talent at 11:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah why they don't just install pipes pumping out nutrient goo is beyond me.
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
It makes zero sense to do this.
Only if efficiency is the sole criterion.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:39 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Only if efficiency is the sole criterion.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:39 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
This Quartz piece talks about how cheap labor impacts service industries in India, and how in many ways it's become a model for the gig economy.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:40 AM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:40 AM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
It has to be the least effiecent method on earth of getting calories into a body.
SOYLENT OR GTFO
posted by tonycpsu at 11:43 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
SOYLENT OR GTFO
posted by tonycpsu at 11:43 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
National Geographic Explorer did a segment on dabbawallas some years ago. If I recall correctly, the physical dabba makes it possible for food to be handled across castes w/o "contamination."
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 12:03 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 12:03 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's worth remembering the secret ingredient here - really cheap labor.
And wives staying at home, cooking.
posted by sukeban at 12:53 PM on October 8, 2015 [9 favorites]
And wives staying at home, cooking.
posted by sukeban at 12:53 PM on October 8, 2015 [9 favorites]
It would make more sense if extra food was cooked at breakfast time and the people took it to work with them. Or how about eating other food that was not cooked at home? It's a weird system.
posted by w0mbat at 1:19 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by w0mbat at 1:19 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Or how about eating other food that was not cooked at home?
The Explorer segment (albeit very old now) observed that the caste system (again) makes restaurants generally problematic. Also there are the manifold religious-based dietary injunctions that make it hard to design a menu capable of addressing a broad clientele.
Would be interesting to know whether that's still the case today.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 1:29 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Explorer segment (albeit very old now) observed that the caste system (again) makes restaurants generally problematic. Also there are the manifold religious-based dietary injunctions that make it hard to design a menu capable of addressing a broad clientele.
Would be interesting to know whether that's still the case today.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 1:29 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Explorer segment (albeit very old now) observed that the caste system (again) makes restaurants generally problematic. Also there are the manifold religious-based dietary injunctions that make it hard to design a menu capable of addressing a broad clientele.
Again - with a tighter labor market, I would imagine those issues would become less problematic.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:23 PM on October 8, 2015
Again - with a tighter labor market, I would imagine those issues would become less problematic.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:23 PM on October 8, 2015
Can anyone recommend websites/books/articles that would help a Westerner understand how the caste system works in practice, on a day-to-day basis? Ones not focusing on the very low or otherwise unusual castes if possible.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:19 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:19 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Previously.
I can't remember where - probably linked from Metafilter - but I read an interesting article of the logistics of the daily delivery. It was fascinating, basically an organic version of something like a UPS sorting warehouse.
posted by bendy at 6:20 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
I can't remember where - probably linked from Metafilter - but I read an interesting article of the logistics of the daily delivery. It was fascinating, basically an organic version of something like a UPS sorting warehouse.
posted by bendy at 6:20 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
A factor mentioned earlier, dietary regulations of different religions is a real issue. So is sanitation. At least you know your mother or wife's cleanliness and that neither will cook something bad for you. Restaurants can't be counted on he same way. You could be delayed looking for lunch. This way lunch is there on time, you eat and you did not need to pack it on the heinously crowded trains. I'd say, it's an efficient system in those ways that count. It might not be practical in an American or European sense, but it works in Mumbai.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 8:03 PM on October 8, 2015
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 8:03 PM on October 8, 2015
I believe a lot of this food is cooked by personal servants, not wives and in-laws. Same gender role issues though since the servants are mostly female.
Also -- all of India has low labor costs, but dabawallas are only really common in Mumbai. My understanding is that white collar employers elsewhere in India generally provide lunch in a cafeteria, often for free.
posted by miyabo at 8:16 PM on October 8, 2015
Also -- all of India has low labor costs, but dabawallas are only really common in Mumbai. My understanding is that white collar employers elsewhere in India generally provide lunch in a cafeteria, often for free.
posted by miyabo at 8:16 PM on October 8, 2015
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