Today
Sustainable diary writes about the successful system of the Dabbawallas, who manage to deliver food from mothers and wives at home
into the hands of their sons and husbands who are off at work.
“Dabbawalla” comes from the term tiffin dabba, referring to a
tiered lunch box and “walla,” a carrier or vendor.
This
process, how you can see in the video, is complete sustainable.
"In
India, where many traditions are being rapidly overturned as a result
of globalization, the practice of eating a home-cooked meal for lunch
lives on.
To
achieve that in this sprawling urban amalgamation of an estimated 25
million people, where long commutes by train and bus are routine,
Mumbai residents rely on an intricately organized, labor-intensive
operation that puts some automated high-tech systems to shame. It
manages to deliver tens of thousands of meals to workplaces all over
the city with near-clockwork precision".
Dabbawallas's
video is realized by The Perennial Plate, who explain: "Each day
in Mumbai 4000 men in white outfits and matching hats transport
175,000 lunches across the big city. They retrieve the tiffens (lunch
containers) of food from mothers and wives, and bring them (by foot,
train, bicycle and even carried on top of their heads) to the office
buildings of waiting husbands and sons. The Dabba wallas have been
doing this since the late 1800s. Despite the unsophisticated mode of
transport, the lunches always arrive on time (the error rate is 1 in
every 16 million transactions). It's a pretty impressive feat and we
were lucky enough to follow a couple Dabba Wallas for a day in
Mumbai, and see their work first hand."
Despite
the influx of food chains and eateries in Mumbai over the last
decade, demand for the lunchtime service is higher than ever before,
with customers from multinational corporations and hedge funds. If we
thought it was too hard to have a hot, home-cooked meal for lunch
each day, well, this organization proves us wrong.
More info
website The Perennial Plate
