A new take on personal chefs? Making and selling excess food.

[Anna N]

An interesting development in Greece. Home cooks prepare more than needed to feed the family and sell the excess meals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24163742

[HungryC]

I didn't realize this was new or different; it's a pretty well entrenched tradition in low income neighborhoods in parts of the US South, esp in rural areas without many restaurants or in areas where historically, racial segregation placed restaurants off-limits to a segment of the population. It's a cousin to the "supper", a/k/a rent party or bail party. Some person needs extra cash (like the aforementioned bail, rent, or medical assistance; or money for kids' graduation, prom, etc expenses), so a home cook makes a large batch of something inexpensive (smothered turkey wings, spaghetti w/meat sauce, fried fish, red beans & rice) and sells plates to friends & neighbors. My better half's office is located in a historically African American, lower-income neighborhood, and people frequently make the rounds selling lunches/dinners. More organized proprietors will print tickets/chits to be sold in advance so they'll know how much food to prepare...it also allows ppl who want to support the individual to buy a ticket and not be required to pick up the food.

Of course, this violates the state & local health codes, which prohibit home preparation of hot foods for commercial sale.

[gfweb]

A related topic is the whole church pot luck disaster which maximizes the chance of food poisoning by sampling the cooking and sanitary practices of multiple kitchens with food this is never kept appropriately hot or cold. But its free, so no code violation.

[Anna N]

I suspect this is the most pertinent and interesting observation in the piece:

Ultimately, a shift is happening from institutional trust to peer trust.

Government inspections are not keeping us safe from E.coli, listeria, etc. Are we any more at risk from food prepared in uninspected home kitchens?

[huiray]

Some related links for your reading interest. (There are more, and on other related issues)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabbawala

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2882-the-incredible-delivery-system-of-indias-dabbawallahs

http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=160000120

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-06/food-reviews/37133533_1_food-websites-restaurants

http://www.justdial.com/Chennai/Tiffin-Services-%3Cnear%3E-Alwarpet/ct-3765

http://www.mydestination.com/mumbai/travel-articles/72981/the-dabbawala-services-of-mumbai

etc etc etc.

[quiet1]

An interesting development in Greece. Home cooks prepare more than needed to feed the family and sell the excess meals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24163742

I didn't realize that was a new thing - my parents have always told me about eating places that sound like they were doing exactly that when they were on their Honeymoon in Greece. That was quite a while ago, though. Perhaps there was a crack down on it and it's being revived now?

[Anna N]

Some related links for your reading interest. (There are more, and on other related issues)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabbawala

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2882-the-incredible-delivery-system-of-indias-dabbawallahs

http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=160000120

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-06/food-reviews/37133533_1_food-websites-restaurants

http://www.justdial.com/Chennai/Tiffin-Services--Alwarpet/ct-3765

http://www.mydestination.com/mumbai/travel-articles/72981/the-dabbawala-services-of-mumbai

etc etc etc.

I tend to consider this a very different animal concerned with delivery of food either from one's own home or from recognized take-out places.

[Anna N]

An interesting development in Greece. Home cooks prepare more than needed to feed the family and sell the excess meals.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24163742

I didn't realize that was a new thing - my parents have always told me about eating places that sound like they were doing exactly that when they were on their Honeymoon in Greece. That was quite a while ago, though. Perhaps there was a crack down on it and it's being revived now?

I am obviously reading more into this as a new phenomenon - me and the BBC.

[huiray]

Some related links for your reading interest. (There are more, and on other related issues)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabbawala

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2882-the-incredible-delivery-system-of-indias-dabbawallahs

http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=160000120

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-06/food-reviews/37133533_1_food-websites-restaurants

http://www.justdial.com/Chennai/Tiffin-Services--Alwarpet/ct-3765

http://www.mydestination.com/mumbai/travel-articles/72981/the-dabbawala-services-of-mumbai

etc etc etc.

I tend to consider this a very different animal concerned with delivery of food either from one's own home or from recognized take-out places.

Although the focus of the articles/links is on the method of transportation of the food (the dabbawalla system), they also indicate that the system is used not only by workers getting food from their own homes but also people ordering food from someone else's home (i.e. not their own home) besides "restaurants"/"take-out places" and having that food - for which they pay - delivered to them via dabbawalla.

[Lisa Shock]

When I lived in Annapolis in the late 70s, a woman used to sell fresh crab cakes out of her kitchen window, maybe a half block up the block from the docks. She lived in a historic row home built in the early 1700s which was right up against the sidewalk. (in an area that had NOT seen urban redevelopment) You could just walk up, tap on the window and she's talk to you just like a real take-out window. Also, her son who was maybe 8 years old used to run around the neighborhood taking orders. I remember he'd stop by a house that some of my friends rented downtown and take orders and payments, returning about an hour later with box lunches for us.