SAINSBURYSMAGAZINE.CO.UK/LIFESTYLE
Founders of DabbaDrop Anshu Ahuja and Renée Williams have created the UK’s first sustainable takeaway
Most Fridays, east London neighbours Anshu Ahuja and Renée Williams would get together to celebrate the end of the week with wine and a takeaway, but it could leave a bitter taste. ‘We hated the plastic packaging and the greasy food,’ says Anshu. ‘The experience often left us feeling bloated and guilty, worrying about the plastic packaging piling up in the kitchen.’
They were eager for a better, planet-friendly alternative. As it happened, Anshu had grown up in Mumbai, where she’d used the dabbawalla. This network of cyclists has been run for more than 100 years in the city to deliver home-cooked meals via reusuable tiered tiffin tins known as dabbas. ‘I wondered if we could create something similar using technology and healthy food,’ she says.
In 2018, Anshu gave the idea a trial run. She started cooking heirloom family curries in her kitchen and delivering them to her neighbours. Renée was one of those first recipients, and soon joined the team. ‘I loved the idea,’ she says. ‘The way it came in a dabba and wrapped in a cloth, it was a theatrical experience.’
Since then, the pair have left their corporate jobs (and moved out of Anshu’s kitchen) to take DabbaDrop full time. Now, it runs on a smart online subscription model, where customers choose if they want a weekly or fortnightly delivery, which can be paused when they like. Each week, the team creates a rotating plant-based menu with vibrant home-style curries and sides based on an area of South Asia, from Kashmir to Kerala, and every
