tiffin’s containing the home-packed lunches of almost 200’000 indian workers are transported daily from home to office by dabbawala’s with only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries. i picked mine up at an indian supermarket for $12 (you can find them online here), and since i work from home (and there isn’t a dabbawala for thousands of miles) it’ll be used for picnic’s and potluck’s.
picnic photo from rachel
Growing up in Union City NJ, we called these “cantinas”. You paid weekly for a cantina meal plan from the local restaurant. The top had fried or boiled plantains, the 2nd had beans or yuca or yams, the 3rd had fried pork or bacalao (salted cod) and the bottom one had white rice.
You dropped off your clean cantina and picked one a filled one every night for dinner. I’m sure it’s still in practice!