Tiffin

Encyclopedia : T : TI : TIF : Tiffin

For other uses, see Tiffin (disambiguation)}}}.

These articles are all part
of the Meals series

Common meals...

Breakfast

Second breakfast

Elevenses

Brunch

Tiffin

Tea

Snack

See also...

Cuisine | Kitchens

Tiffin is an Indian and British term for a light meal eaten during the day. The word became popular in British India, deriving from tiffing, an old English dialect or slang word for taking a little drink or sip.

In modern day India, the word mostly is used for light lunches prepared for working Indian men by their wives after they have left for work, and forwarded to them by Dabbawalas who use a complex system to get thousands of tiffin-boxes to their destinations. The lunches are packed in tin boxes, also sometimes called tiffins or tiffin-boxes. A common approach is to put rice in one box, dal in another and yet other items in the third or fourth. The other items could be breads, such as naan, vegetable curry and finally a sweet.

Another modern usage of the word also applies to lunches that may be packed by parents for children attending school, to provide a lunch during the school day if the student eats lunch at school.

In some former British colonies, the stacked porcelain or metal round trays with handles are called tiffin carriers (similar to a Dabbawala), and small-scale caterers use them for delivering meals to individual homes.

People also refer to cups of tea as "a cup of tiffin".

In the film Carry On Up the Khyber, "having a bit of tiffin" is used as a euphemism for sex.