He wanted to know what kind of containers are used by Chinese restaurants for packing take-out food so he could depict it appropriately in his illustrations.
In Bangalore, Chinese food comes in round, white, plastic containers with plastic tops. Some restaurants have their name on the containers and some don't.
Has anyone seen any another kinds of containers for Chinese take-out food? Do they pack some food in aluminium foil?
John has visited Bangalore twice to research the series and has some lovely photographs of those visits. Check out the one captioned "Why spelling really does count". It's hilarious.
But even better than the photographs are his cartoons that were inspired by his visits. He's uploaded them as well right alongside the photographs.
Here is his depiction of the Jayanagar market.
Cartoon by John Steventon (www.happyglyphs.com) 
8 comments:
Hi Sujatha,
Thank you so much for including me in today's blog. I appreciate that, and the answer to my question.
As I mentioned in my email, I am very surprised to hear of non-biodegradable containers being used in India. The India I know reuses and recycles everything, and never throws anything away. My wife told me about getting idly wrapped in banana leaf and twine, which sounds so cool :0)
Still, I am going for authenticity. Once I find out if those containers come with chopsticks, I will finish the cartoon, and send it to you.
Thanks again! JOHN :0)
PS I love when you include photos in your blog. The ones of Jayanagar market and Coorg are fantastic.
John, you're welcome! As for biodegradable packing material, those days are gone, at least in the cities. All you see, everywhere you look, are styrofoam cups and those square boxes, plastic bags and plastic bottles. We saw them even as we were driving through rural Kerala and north Karnataka. :((
Some restaurants do use banana leaves and newspapers (the fast food Shanti Sagar and Adiga types) and some will even ask you to bring containers from your home to save on packing material cost.
About the chopsticks, I think they'll give them to you if you ask for them, but I think the norm is plastic forks.
Thank you again, Sujatha.
I'm saddened to hear about the litter everywhere. I was in Bangalore a year ago, and didn't notice this. Even then, I was amazed at how things in India are repaired or reused instead of being tossed out.
Now that would be an interesting photo essay; items being used for something other than what they were created for!
Cheers, JOHN :0)
Hi Sujatha....
You have a very nice blog going on here.... John told me about this. He's married to my cousin. So, I guess that would make him my cousin-in-law. :-) I'm originally from Bangalore and now live in Cincinnati, OH.
Kishore, thank you and welcome to my blog!
Hi Sujata,
Good link to John's Bangalore page. Really enjoyed it.
Jayanager 4th Block is my fav part of Blr too :)
Thanks for your BDay wishes. I checked out Niagara too :)
Hello again, Sujatha,
I finally got around to actually blogging at my own blog , and posted the comic strips involving the Chinese take-out. There's also a bit of back story, if you are interested.
Thank you again for your help, JOHN :0)
Hi John! Good to hear from you. You're very welcome.
Good luck!
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