Tiffin carrier

Tiffin carriers or dabbas are a kind of lunch box used widely in Asia and the Caribbean for tiffin meals. From India and Pakistan, they spread to Malaysia and Singapore and to Trinidad and Tobago.
In the Indian city of Mumbai and the Pakistani city of Karachi, there is a complex and efficient delivery system that regularly delivers hot lunches packed in dabbas to city office workers from their suburban homes or from a caterer. It uses delivery workers known as dabbawalas.
The book Tiffin: An Untold Story covers 172 tiffin carriers, some over a century old.

Nomenclature

In Cambodia, tiffin carriers are known as Chan Srak, in Hokkien they are called Uánn-tsân, in Indonesian as rantang; mangkuk tingkat in Malay; while in Thai they are known as Pin To.
In Arab countries they are called safartas. The Hungarian word for a tiffin box is éthordó.

Design and materials

Normally these containers come with two or three tiers, although more elaborate versions can have four. The bottom tier, sometimes larger than the others, is the one usually used for rice. Tiffin carriers are opened by unlocking a small catch on either side of the handle. Tiffin carriers are generally made out of steel and sometimes of aluminium, but enamel and plastic versions have been made by European companies.