How artistic was the Japanese who used to deliver food by bicycle?

Impressive photos taken on the streets of Tokyo in the mid-20th century show that the Japanese had a very unique way of delivering food long before services like Swiggy, Zomato. were born.

It is the image of soba delivery men riding bicycles with only one hand but still balancing very skillfully with trays of noodles on their shoulders piled up like towers. They weave their way through the flow of people and traffic into each neighborhood to bring meals to regular customers. This service is called by the name demae (Japanese for 'to go ahead').

This service is called by the name demae.

Demae is said to have appeared very early, around the middle of the Edo period (Protection) - 18th century, mainly to serve great names (Daimyo) or powerful and wealthy lords. Usually, the big name would send the family god to inform the restaurant owner to deliver the food to their castle. Over time, demae became more and more popular and loved by almost everyone, from students to office workers. One of the most popular dishes is buckwheat noodles (soba) served cold with dipping sauce or hot with soup. Soba is both a popular dish and can be carried around easily without losing its flavor or distortion.

The job of delivering soba noodles is really not easy, requiring mastery and skillful balancing skills. A noodle delivery man often has to deliver dozens of orders in one trip due to a lack of manpower and the only flexible means of transport is bicycles. With such a rush of orders, the men skillfully stacked hundreds of bowls of noodles on top of each other (with a stack of up to 1.5 m tall) and then carried them away with one hand controlling the bicycle and the other lightly. hold the noodle tower - like acrobatics in a circus.

This soba delivery job is really not easy.

In 1961, the Japanese government enacted a new traffic law, requiring cyclists to put both hands on the handlebars when traveling on the road - Reuters reported. Officials from the Traffic Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said that cycling with a stack of bowls on one shoulder is extremely dangerous and should be banned from the point of view of road safety. 'However, we will not place any other strict restrictions because it will cost them a lot of customers,' a police representative said.

The Reuters article ended with an optimistic prediction, that "with the commitment of the police, soba delivery boys will continue to operate on the streets of Tokyo." But unfortunately we today have This is no longer the case with the advent of new, safer and more efficient types of food delivery services.