Imagine your favorite noodles being delivered at lunchtime by a restaurant courier. Although the way to order your lunch has changed, in Japan, noodles used to arrive by bicycle noodle delivery with a difference. Today’s constant rush and lifestyles that revolve around earning to sustain a better lifestyle means we are very comfortable with the art of ordering food. Select a food delivery app, and we are all set to eat with a few clicks.
But the food delivery system is not a new concept. The old method of bicycle noodle delivery in Tokyo has been making news ever since a few pictures of delivery boys carrying stacks of noodles hit the internet.
The history of damae
The Edo period was an essential part of Japan’s development. Not only was Tokyo, then Edo, made the seat of power for Japan, but the period also had some strict traditions that enabled the shogunates’ reign to last 250 years. During this time, the economic development of the country was underway. People walked to work, and the daily commuter’s life was similar to what we see today, without the electronic encroachment.
The need to eat but not go back and forth between work and home for lunch gave rise to the food delivery system. Since bicycles were not used then, the delivery men, or demae (meaning “to go in front of”), carried dozens of soba and udon noodles — healthy, nutritious, and satisfying.
The restaurants serving the food and offering delivery initially served wealthy clients in the 1700s called Daimyō, feudal lords. Soba made of buckwheat contains Thiamine, or Vitamin B1, which was missing from white rice eaten by wealthier people. Soba noodles solved the deficiency problem by providing the missing Thiamine and reducing cases of Beriberi common in those days.
The original bicycle noodle delivery service
The noodles were packed and hung from a balanced pole on their shoulders. A fact to consider here is that after it was prepared, this food was piping hot. When the customers received their food, it was still hot, which will give you an idea of how fast these men ran to deliver the food.
In more modern times, bicycle noodle delivery has become more complex with the use of bicycles. As bicycles came on the scene, the city was spreading. Tokyo was becoming more extensive, and hence, these deliverymen had to cover an extended area within a short time. These deliverymen carried at least 20 food bowls balanced precariously on their shoulders with one hand for support while using the other to steer the bicycle.
Often, they had to deliver to a company’s entire staff. This meant that the demae had to carry at least 30 portions of food on his shoulders. These stacks of food could easily reach 5 feet in height. Seeing a demae on his delivery commute was no less than watching an acrobat do a fantastic balancing act on a busy street. Eventually, demae competed with each other.
The demise of the demae
During this time, Honda was setting up a booming automotive industry. However, the rising number of cars and motorbikes on the streets made traveling by bicycle a difficult feat. Strict traffic rules of having both hands on the bike while riding among the growing amount of cars on the streets made this delivery illegal.
On March 28, 1961, Reuters reported the Metropolitan Police Department’s Traffic Section officials saying: “To ride on a bicycle with piles of ‘soba’ bowls on your shoulder is dangerous. It must be prohibited from the viewpoint of road traffic safety. But we will not place any stricter curb as they will lose more than half their customers.”
With today’s world full of late deliveries or the delivery guys being rude or stealing food from the customers, what those Japanese men achieved on bicycles was indeed an art. One hand supports the stacks of hot food, one shoulder holds the central portion of the burden, and one hand steers the bicycle, and all this is achieved without slowing down or getting into accidents on busy Tokyo streets.
This level of dedication and politeness is an art.
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