Strange name, isn’t it? Dabbawalla is a game that’s all about enjoying good school lunches together. The name comes from an Indian system, where home-made meals are taken to the offices in dabbas (stacked lunch boxes). The person who delivers the dabbas is called the dabbawalla. This system served as a source of inspiration for the Dabbawalla game, where a child acts as the dabbawalla: he prepares a dish at home together with his parents and then shares it with his classmates at school for lunch. The game lasts four weeks. Each week, a different child is the dabbawalla and each week there is a new secret ingredient.

On Friday 13 November the dabbawalla game was played for the second time in Group 5 (8-9 year olds) of the Icarus School in Heemstede. This school is trying out the concept 'Eating well together' to see whether it appeals to all parties concerned (children, parents and teachers).

Each dabbawalla brought a full dabba to school and told the whole class what they had made for them. The basic ingredient that had to be used this week was egg. Though a recipe was provided on the website, the dabbawallas had also come up with their own culinary ideas, varying from wraps to sandwich towers filled with egg, cucumber and tomato (see http://dabbawalla.waag.org).

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 Almost everyone enjoyed the carefully prepared lunches.
After lunch the dabbawallas washed the dishes, while the other children penned a Thank You card for the dabbawallas. Whereas last week the dishwashers had almost flooded the school, this week everything was cleaned up with remarkable speed. Moments later, the dabbawallas appeared back in class and the thank you cards were ready.

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 After a short break, the second part of the game got under way: guessing next week’s secret ingredient. The teacher read out a strange little story about the secret ingredient, and the children had to guess what it was. It was great fun seeing the children become totally engrossed in the game and raising their hands as soon as they thought they knew the answer. When the secret ingredient (carrot) had been guessed, all the hints from the story fell into place. The children were then invited to sample different types of carrot, which was really fun. Carrots that didn’t look too tasty were initially ignored, but when the children actually sampled them, they even preferred them to the bright orange carrot.

At the end of the day, the new dabbawallas returned home with the dabbas. Their task is to prepare a tasty lunch with carrots this week. Next Friday is the big day. I wonder what they’ll come up with this time!

Sander Bogers is a student Industrial Design at the Technical University Eindhoven, and participates in de Dabbawalla pilot because of his teaching practice.