The History of Food Made To Go
To celebrate our launch on DoorDash, Caviar, & Uber Eats, here is a brief history of food made to go:
Long before delivery apps, paper bags, or the New York City skyline, the question remained: How do you feed people who can not go home to eat?
Ancient Mesoamerican Tamales
Before European contact, Indigenous civilizations across Mesoamerica perfected one of history’s most ingenious portable foods: the tamale.
Wrapped naturally in corn husks or banana leaves, tamales were durable, nourishing, self-contained, and easy to transport. They accompanied armies, traders, hunters, agricultural workers, and travelers across long distances.
Rome’s Street Food Counters
In Ancient Rome, many working-class residents relied on small street stalls called thermopolia for hot prepared meals.
Archaeologists uncovered hundreds of these counters in Pompeii, lined with large clay pots filled with lentil stews, bread, olives, chickpeas, wine, and garum (a fermented fish sauce). Designed to feed laborers, travelers, and city dwellers without kitchens, thermopolia became one of the earliest known forms of urban takeout food.
India’s Tiffin Tradition
In Mumbai, the tiffin (stacked metal containers filled with rice, daal, vegetables, chapati, and more) evolved into one of the world’s most extraordinary food delivery systems through the dabbawalas.
Since the late 19th century, they have transported hundreds of thousands of home-cooked meals across the city each day using bicycles, trains, and handcarts with remarkable precision.
Japan’s Bento Box
The origins of bento trace back over a thousand years, becoming especially common during the Kamakura period when travelers and workers carried rice, dried fish, and pickled vegetables in bamboo or lacquered containers.
By the Edo period, bentos had become part of daily movement across Japan: travelers carried meals on long journeys, theatergoers arrived with elegant lunch boxes, and farmers packed simple meals for the fields. Emphasizing balance, durability, seasonality, and beauty, bento transformed portable food into ritual.
From the handheld Jamaican patty influenced by the Cornish pasty brought to the Caribbean through British colonialism to Turkish simit sold from street carts across Istanbul, every culture has created its own version of
food designed for convenient nourishment.
Though the format has evolved, we carry these traditions forward to nourish you at every moment with food that brings together convenience, care, and quality.
For our Brooklyn Larooters, Laroot World is now available on:
Doordash, Caviar, & Uber Eats!