将外卖进行到底

说到吃，能让你眼界大开的不仅仅是藜麦，还有位于印度孟买一家现代化的高效午餐外卖店。相信每个人都曾与外卖打过交道，有人也许还曾在外卖店打过工，送过外卖，但我们要介绍的这一家，可是非一般的外卖店噢 ^-^ Host： Think about how Americans often order pizza delivery. Now， imagine you had an arrangement to deliver lunch to your office every day. Imagine further that everybody in the office received a delivery every day， and so did everybody in the office next door. And imagine that its Indian food.

A system somewhat like this has prevailed for a century in one of the worlds largest cities， Mumbai. Every day in Indias business capital， thousands of delivery men， called *dabbawallahs hand-deliver meals to doorsteps across the city. Elliot Hannon reports from Mumbai on how this traditional service is delivering meals from a 21st century source.

Elliot： For decades， Indian workers have had their lunches delivered， usually from home kitchens. The prices were cheap and the food traditional Indian fare. But thats changing.

主持人：先想一想，我们美国人是怎样经常订比萨饼，让商家送货上门的。好，现在设想一下你做好安排，把每天的午餐送到你的办公室；再设想办公室里所有的人每天都有午餐送上门，旁边那间办公室也如此。好了，再设想一下午餐是印度食品。

类似这样的一个体系已经在世界上人口最多的城市之一孟买盛行了一个世纪。在孟买这个印度的商业之都，每天数以千计被称为“达巴瓦拉”的送餐员亲手把一份份午餐送到全市的顾客手上。埃利奥特·汉农在孟买向我们讲述一家21世纪的企业如何运作这种传统的外卖送餐服务。

埃利奥特：在过去的几十年里，印度上班族的午餐通常从自家厨房送到办公室。午餐的价格低廉，都是传统的印度食物。但这些都在发生着变化。

Nityanand Shetty （Chef）： This is our main kitchen. Its like a 2，000 ft2 kitchen. This guy is making the South Indian menu. Hes making a 1）beetroot dhosa. Then the other guy is making an egg white omelet over here.

Elliot： Nityanand Shetty is the head chef at Calorie Care， a high-end， health-obsessed delivery joint.

Nityanand： Its a new trend that has been started. Its a traditional dabbawallah， but at a premium kind of a thing， where the customer is conscious about what hes eating； hes not bothered about what price hes paying. So， the delivery chain remains the same， but the food， where it is coming from has changed.

The kitchen starts at night， 11 oclock. The food comes out of the kitchen somewhere around 2， 2：30， 3 oclock. Then the packing guys will start packing their food.

Elliot： Its a complicated process with hundreds of different meals， all with specific calorie counts. Calorie Care relies on software to keep everything straight. After a night of cooking and a morning of packing， each meal is put into a small metal 2）canister， or 3）tiffin， in time for the dabbawallahs pickup.

Nityanand： So when he comes at 9 oclock， everything has to be ready for him because they are on a very tight schedule. The dabbawallahs have a huge network. Thats the whole reason why we still use dabbawallahs. And theyre very effective.

尼蒂扬尼·希提（厨师）：这是我们的主厨房，厨房的面积约有两千平方英尺（约185平方米）。这个人在做南印度菜，他做的是甜菜薄饼，那边的那个人在煎蛋清饼。

埃利奥特：卡路里饮食是一家专注于健康饮食的高端送餐服务企业，尼蒂扬尼·希提是这里的主厨。

尼蒂扬尼：这是一个开始不久的新趋势。我们提供的是传统的达巴瓦拉送餐服务，但却是更优质高端的服务，我们的顾客对吃什么很重视，但却不怎么计较价格。因此，送餐服务链不变，但食物的来源变了。

我们的厨房从晚上11点开始运行，食物大概在两点、两点半、三点钟从厨房出来，然后负责包装的人就开始打包食物。

埃利奥特：他们每天要准备好几百份各式各样的午餐，全部都有详细的卡路里值，整个过程非常复杂。电脑软件帮助卡路里饮食把所有的事情都安排得有条不紊，井然有序。经过一个晚上的烹煮和一个上午的装盒程序，每一份午餐都被放进了一个小金属盒里，准备好等达巴瓦拉送餐员来取。

尼蒂扬尼：早上九点，他来了，所有午餐都为他准备好了，因为他们的时间很紧。达巴瓦拉送餐员是一个庞大的网络，我们继续用他们也正是基于这个原因，并且他们非常有效率。

Elliot： Right on time， Kishan Palvar arrives for the pickup from Calorie Care. Hes one of 5，000 dabbawallah deliverymen who ferry some 200，000 lunches to offices across the city. The couriers make 500 rupees， or about$10， per person for a month of deliveries. Palvar picks up several dozen lunches here. To make sure each lunch pail ends up at the right place， each container has a 4）hieroglyphic-like coding system painted on the lid.

Kishan： Yeah， code number， yes， 94 M 1.

Elliot： Palvar checks the codes， scoops up his cargo and heads outside to load up. He clips the containers to the handlebars of his bicycle and starts his 45-minute cycle to the train station. At the station， the platform is jammed and so are the trains. Three dabbawallahs haul trays the size of dinner tables from the doorway of a commuter train. Some are transferred to other trains to go to different parts of the city. Lunches can be transferred three or four times before finally ending up on desktops of customers like Arif Bandukwala， who sits in a back office of a packaging plant waiting for his vegetarian entree.

Arif： I get my lunch everyday. Packing a lunch and bringing it， it doesnt serve the purpose. And also what I like about the food is its less of salt， so it suits our appetite.

Elliot： Before he leaves， the delivery man collects yesterdays container and the process starts all over again for tomorrow.

埃利奥特：基尚·帕尔瓦尔准时来到卡路里饮食取午餐。他是五千名达巴瓦拉送餐员中的一员，这支送餐员队伍每天把二十多万份午餐送到全市不同地方的办公室里。送餐员每个月会拿到500卢比（大约10美元）的报酬。基尚从这里取走几十份午餐。为了让每一份午餐都能准确无误地送到顾客手中，每个餐盒盖上都写有像象形文字般的编码系统。

基尚：是的，编码，对，94 M 1。

埃利奥特：基尚检查了一遍编码，提起他的货，到外面装车去了。他把午餐盒夹在自行车的把手上，开始了他耗时45分钟的路程，向火车站出发。在车站里，站台上拥挤不堪，车厢里也一样。三个送餐员把餐桌大小的餐盒托盘从通勤火车上抬下来，有些午餐会转到其他车上，再送到市里的其他地方。有些午餐可能在转手三四次后，才会最终被送到顾客的办公桌上。阿里夫·班杜夸拉此时正坐在一个包装工厂后面办公室里等着他的素食午餐。

阿里夫：我的午餐每天都会送过来。光是把午餐装好，送过来，这还不是送餐服务的全部。我要的食物要少放点盐，所以他们送来的才合我们的胃口。

埃利奥特：送餐员在离开之前，会收齐前一天送来的午餐盒。明天新一轮的送餐又要从头开始了。

文化交流站

dabbawallah

在马拉地语中，达巴瓦拉意为“送盒子的人”，指在印度孟买从事将刚做好的午饭饭盒从上班族的住家运往他们的工作地点，并且将空饭盒带回来这一行业的人。Tiffin在旧英语中指“简单的午餐”，有时也指装午餐的饭盒。因此，达巴瓦拉在英语中有时也会被称为“Tiffin Wallahs”。尽管这个行业看似简单，但是它却是孟买高度专业的服务，有超过一个世纪的历史，是这个城市文化的一部分。达巴瓦拉的概念始于英属印度时期。许多来到殖民地的英国人不喜欢本地食物，因此一项将午餐从他们的家中直接送至工作地点的服务应运而生。今天，印度的商务人士是达巴瓦拉的主要客户。