A normal meal served by dabbawalas

If you come from any other state to settle in Delhi, the first and foremost thing that you check out in the chosen locality is the tiffin services available. The dabbawalas, who deliver these tiffin boxes, are essential for survival if you don’t plan to take on the extra burden of cooking.

This reason has made tiffin delivery service a booming business in Delhi and many get to enjoy home cooked meals without compromising on health or money.
The tiffin service or the dabbawalas, as they are called, are mostly heard of in the Delhi University area where many college students stay in rented flats, mostly without a kitchen. Since it (tiffin service) comes cheaper, there are many takers for the same. “If we compare, tiffin costs us less and there is no hassle. It is delivery at our doorstep. Plus, we all long for home cooked meal, and tiffin food comes closer to our taste,” says Mahendra Pal Singh, a student residing in Kamla Nagar.
The humble tiffin-set generally serves a dal, season vegetable, roti, rice and occasionally salad and a sweet dish as a meal. And most people like it for it is simple and healthy meal.
Sanjay from Harsh Tiffin Service, who provides tiffins to offices in South Delhi says the number of orders is increasing of late. “Many people do not belong to Delhi and they depend on our service. Though we don’t cook anything fancy, we cook our food in a very earthy and homely manner, which is why people prefer ordering food from us rather than eating at any restaurant everyday. We serve everything from green vegetables like gourd, spinach, paneer (cheese) to a variety of pulses just like they are cooked at home,” says Harish, who delivers a full meal for just Rs 40.
On the other hand, the concept of tiffin service is also improving with new additions. Jyotirmoy Guha, a resident of Chittaranjan Park, has started delivering Bengali meal tiffin boxes. “We started this service some two years back when we realised that there are many Bengalis and Christians residing and working in some South Delhi areas. They don’t get to eat Bengali cuisine easily if they don’t cook at home. So we decided to start this Bengali tiffin service and serve variety of fish, mutton and chicken cooked in Bengali style,” says Jyotirmoy, who packs 200 lunch boxes in a day to be delivered in nearby areas like Greater Kailash 2, Kalkaji, Alaknanda and Govindpuri Extension.
This is not the only ‘different’ dabba service; now Delhiites get to sample a variety of cuisines through these dabbawalas. Satguru Tiffin Service in Dwarka supplies pure Punjabi cuisine. “People like food cooked in a different manner and Punjabi flavour is hit with all. That is why we decided to start delivering pure Punjabi food. We serve a variety of curries including rajma, chhole, kadhi pakora and all in our tiffin and people enjoy them. We keep our technique very Punjabi but spices are very moderate as most of our clients are south Indians,” says Chandeep Singh from Satguru Tiffin Service.
Many say the best part with these dabbawalas is that they cook meal according to your choice. “I would tell my dabbawala what I would like to eat. He would listen to me many a time and occasionally prepared good non-vegetarian food too. This is what you need,” says Aniruddh Kakkar, a MBA residing in Rohini area. “And the advantage is that you can change your dabbawala if they don’t comply by your order. There are many of them in Delhi,” adds Aniruddh.