A cylindrical or rectangular metal container used in India to carry and deliver hot meals, often stacked and transported by delivery workers called dabbawallahs.
From Hindi 'डिब्बा' (dibba), meaning 'box' or 'container.' The word entered English through colonial India and is still widely used in Mumbai's famous meal delivery system.
Mumbai's dabbawallah system is so efficient that it has been studied at Harvard Business School—thousands of workers deliver hot lunches in dabba containers with an accuracy rate higher than 99.99%, using a color-coded system instead of addresses!
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