Forget bento boxes and overpriced meal deals. TikTok‘s latest fixation is something way older, way cheaper, and way more exciting to watch than you’d think: tiffins.
Yep, centuries-old Indian lunchboxes are suddenly the main character of the internet, and people cannot cope.
The queen of this trend is Lily Baria, a Brit who ditched grey UK mornings for life in sunny Goa. Every day, she films herself unboxing her tiffin: a shiny stack of steel containers that arrive at her door filled with whatever the local cook has made that morning.
Think curries, dal, chapati, rice, crispy little croquettes, basically a full South Asian feast for less than half the price of your coffee order.
@lilybaria WEDNESDAY TIFFIN!! (3) #tiffintok #tiffin #india #indianfood #goa #goanfood
It sounds simple, but TikTok is hooked. Each video is like a culinary blind date. Will today’s box be generous or stingy? Is it beef chop day (the fan favourite) or dreaded okra (boo, hiss)? The suspense is half the fun, and her reactions are just as addictive as the food.
But what actually is a tiffin? In India, it’s both the food and the container: a lunch stacked in neat metal tins that lock together so nothing leaks. The idea came from colonial Brits in the 18th century who needed something to tide them over between breakfast and dinner in the humid heat. Fast-forward 200 years and tiffins are still everywhere, as affordable, home-style meals that millions rely on daily.
Baria pays about £50 a month (around £1.70 per meal), which is frankly criminally cheap for a meal which very often feeds both Baria and her partner. Meanwhile, her followers are frantically trying to find their own tiffin services, though in London, it’ll set you back closer to £30 a day. Sorry UK, no £2 curries here.
Now, even homeware stores are jumping on the hype. Tiffin-style lunchboxes are popping up in TK Maxx and could easily become the next bento box, only way cooler, because each layer feels like a tiny unboxing video IRL.
So yeah, this is why TikTok has decided tiffins are the moment. They’re sustainable, unpredictable, lowkey glamorous, and watching Lily reveal hers is like ASMR for foodies. Deliveroo could never.
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Featured image credit: TikTok/@lilybaria
