Green perspectives on Stockwood and Bristol. Mostly.

Saturday 21 February 2009

In praise of the takeaway thali in Totterdown

Just had another thali from Totterdown



It's still hot when you get home.

It fits in a bike pannier (though not an a car floor) without falling over

It's only six quid every time they refill it, and that's enough for the two of us

There's no waste, nothing to throw away.

And it tastes good too.

(and getting to Montpelier was such a drag.....)

......................

Some years ago, I asked the two supermarkets in the village where I lived to agree between themselves on making a charge for the plastic bags they handed out so prolifically, and putting the proceeds into a community fund. A win-win situation, you'd think.
But one didn't answer, the other (the Co-op) got into total administrative confusion as this unthinkable request was passed between departments up the heirarchy until it reached their Manchester HQ and disappeared. No joy there, then.

So it's especially pleasing now to see the supermarkets actually beginning to admit that, just maybe, not every customer wants to leave with everything prepackaged and repackaged separately with their company logo. And initiatives like the Thali, of course, breaking with the convention that every takeaway needs its complement of plastic, paper, polystyrene and card whether you like it or not, all to be disposed of at public expense.

Who knows, perhaps one day all hot food outlets will simply fill the containers that the customers bring along.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

-they fit in cars inside cooler boxes
-they fit in rucksacks but tend to leak
-carrying by hand works well, montpelier on a fri/sat summer evening is full of people strolling around with their tiffins.
-The existing takeaway across the road fills your tiffin too, now.

Photos of how you transport the takeaway safely in your bike -especially with the Thali Cafe in the background- would be welcome at Bristol Traffic. I feel like copying the EP and having a fight the 'credit crunch' week where we discuss logistics to all 3 of the thali cafes.

Anonymous said...

We have been trying to encourage other businesses to join our Tiffin Scheme for ages but to little success.

We believe that more restaurants have to think about sustainability within their business model. Restaurants by their nature are so energy hungry. Be interested in any useful comments you guys may have to help us improve our service.