Convenience (Food) with a Conscience with Dabba Drop (Out of the Box #3) Lecker
-
- Food
Welcome back to Out of the Box, an audio exploration of what surrounds our food. That is, the containers and packaging in which it enters our lives. In this series, I'm talking to people who have taken an interesting and innovative approach to packaging what they cook and produce, as well as exploring some of the broader context around the history of particular food packaging, as well as obviously waste, and the impact that packaging has on our environment.
Takeaways are a huge part of our food culture here in the UK. Since I was a kid, getting a pizza, or a parmo, or a chicken tikka masala in pila rice, or sweet and sour chicken balls, or what was known locally as a family pack, that I realised later was simply an enormous kebab, has been a part of the English food in my life, as much as scones, or shepherd's pie, or gammon and pineapple.
And I want to stress that this isn't something that I think we should feel shame or guilt around, unlike how the British media sometimes seems to want us to. But the thing that does make me uncomfortable. is what's left after the takeaway has been devoured. These days, rather than the polystyrene tubs, it's often lidded plastic containers, technically reusable, though I suspect they aren't always used as such, or paper boxes and bags, but the problem is that takeaway packaging has to be durable in order to transport the food to us in good temperature and condition, and that isn't always compatible with an option that's easily biodegradable.
And often takeaway food is cheap, which is part of the appeal, and it's not seen as an option to raise the price to take into account more expensive, environmentally friendly packaging. I think part of the problem is that actually, with the volume in which takeaways are produced and distributed in this country, there's No one use packaging is entirely sustainable, and this is a thought process that led me to Dabba Drop.
I've been aware of Dabba Drop for a while, though have never actually had the chance to try their food. The company was founded in 2018 by Renee and Anshu, who wanted to offer something different on the takeaway market. Dabba, quite literally, means box. Filled with delicious dishes, these stacked dabbas are delivered around London by pushbike, e-bike or zero emission vehicles. And the same riders and drivers collect the emptied dabbas the next time around, to return to be washed and filled again.
I met Renee and Anshu at the Dabba Drop offices in East London to talk about packaging, dishes, and the original inspiration for the model: the dabba walas of Mumbai.
Welcome back to Out of the Box, an audio exploration of what surrounds our food. That is, the containers and packaging in which it enters our lives. In this series, I'm talking to people who have taken an interesting and innovative approach to packaging what they cook and produce, as well as exploring some of the broader context around the history of particular food packaging, as well as obviously waste, and the impact that packaging has on our environment.
Takeaways are a huge part of our food culture here in the UK. Since I was a kid, getting a pizza, or a parmo, or a chicken tikka masala in pila rice, or sweet and sour chicken balls, or what was known locally as a family pack, that I realised later was simply an enormous kebab, has been a part of the English food in my life, as much as scones, or shepherd's pie, or gammon and pineapple.
And I want to stress that this isn't something that I think we should feel shame or guilt around, unlike how the British media sometimes seems to want us to. But the thing that does make me uncomfortable. is what's left after the takeaway has been devoured. These days, rather than the polystyrene tubs, it's often lidded plastic containers, technically reusable, though I suspect they aren't always used as such, or paper boxes and bags, but the problem is that takeaway packaging has to be durable in order to transport the food to us in good temperature and condition, and that isn't always compatible with an option that's easily biodegradable.
And often takeaway food is cheap, which is part of the appeal, and it's not seen as an option to raise the price to take into account more expensive, environmentally friendly packaging. I think part of the problem is that actually, with the volume in which takeaways are produced and distributed in this country, there's No one use packaging is entirely sustainable, and this is a thought process that led me to Dabba Drop.
I've been aware of Dabba Drop for a while, though have never actually had the chance to try their food. The company was founded in 2018 by Renee and Anshu, who wanted to offer something different on the takeaway market. Dabba, quite literally, means box. Filled with delicious dishes, these stacked dabbas are delivered around London by pushbike, e-bike or zero emission vehicles. And the same riders and drivers collect the emptied dabbas the next time around, to return to be washed and filled again.
I met Renee and Anshu at the Dabba Drop offices in East London to talk about packaging, dishes, and the original inspiration for the model: the dabba walas of Mumbai.