«——【Preamble】】 ——»
Presumably every reader who has taken the train has had such an experience, as soon as it is time to eat in the morning, noon and evening, there will be staff pushing the dining car through the carriage one by one, selling boxed lunches.
However, these boxed lunches are rarely sold, and the staff will not be able to sell a boxed lunch after walking through a carriage, although the passengers on the long-distance train need to stay for a short period of time, but these passengers would rather choose instant noodles and bread, and few people choose to eat boxed lunches.
What is the reason for this? Why is it so unavoidable to eat a boxed lunch on the train, and on the train, a hot meal is not as good as bread or instant noodles?
«——【·又贵又难吃·】——»
Why can't the lunch box on the train be sold, no wonder there are two points, one is the price, the other is the taste, the price of the box lunch on the train is basically more than 15 yuan, and the cheapest lunch on most trains also costs 20 yuan. The price can even reach 80 yuan.
And this price is enough to eat a meal at a home-style restaurant, and it seems a little worthless to spend on a train box lunch.
In fact, the price of the train lunch box is never in the itself, but in the fact that the train operator attaches the cost of the train's service and operation to it.
Of course, expensive is not the original sin, if the train lunch is delicious, then even if it is expensive, there must be many people willing to pay, but the problem lies in this second point.
The second point is the taste of the train lunch, which is not delicious at all, and can even be called unpalatable, and it is completely difficult to swallow for those who are picky about eating, even for those who are not too picky eaters, it can also be called tasteless.
Expensive and unpalatable, people are naturally reluctant to spend money to eat such a meal, and in addition, people nowadays will spontaneously buy some portable fast food in the supermarket before taking a long-distance train, such as ham, bread and instant noodles.
Of course, these fast foods are not as good as the hot meals at home and the exquisite dishes in small restaurants, but they are much better than the tasteless train box lunches.
And the cost of these fast foods is much cheaper than the train lunch. So why is the lunch box on the train so unpalatable?
This brings us to the current way of making lunch boxes - prefabricated meals made by basically fully industrialized processes.
«——【·Industrial Prefabricated Dishes·】——»
The concept of prefabricated dishes has now entered thousands of households, countless small restaurants, and even campuses, so how are prefabricated dishes made?
Prefabricated dishes are not artificially made, but according to the standards of industrial assembly lines, food that has been industrially pre-processed, and the food manufactured by machinery is naturally not as delicious as the food cooked by hand.
Moreover, these pre-made dishes are not like artificially cooked food, they are freshly made and eaten, so they need to be vacuum compressed and frozen to extend their shelf life.
The prefabricated dishes produced and manufactured in the industrial mode taste the same unpalatable, and I am afraid that the only advantage of these prefabricated dishes is that they are convenient to eat.
Buying a pre-made dish, in addition to heating, does not require any process processing, and today's trains are basically not reserved for chefs to cook on the fire, today's trains, prohibit open flames, train lunches, naturally only microwave heated pre-made dishes.
In the eyes of the public, prefabricated dishes are not only synonymous with unpalatable, but also synonymous with danger, at this year's 315 party, the classic prefabricated dish plum cabbage button meat had a big problem, and it was found that it was made of lymphatic meat.
And people who know that the train lunch box is a pre-made dish are naturally reluctant to buy such a meal to eat.
All kinds of reasons are superimposed, and the final result is naturally that no matter how hard the aunt on the train shouts, there are very few people who are willing to buy this unpalatable box lunch.
People would rather chew bread or make a bucket of instant noodles, but in fact, in the era of green trains, train lunch boxes are not the unpalatable and expensive image of today's public impression.
At that time, although the price of the train lunch box was not very cheap, the taste was so good that people were happy to pay for it.
«——【Former Train Lunches·】——»
There is such a sentence in Mu Xin's "Once Upon a Time", "I remember when I was a teenager earlier, everyone was sincere and sincere", and the boxed lunch on the green train was also sincere.
At that time, pre-made dishes had not yet become popular in the mainland, and the speed of the green train could not catch up with the current train, and it drove very slowly.
In the era of the green train, fast food was not as popular as it is today, most of the dry food that people brought was cold and hard, and the long-distance train ran for a few days and nights, and it was really tasteless to eat if they nibbled on dry food.
And for those who take the green train, eating a boxed lunch on the train can be described as a blessing.
At that time, prefabricated dishes were not popular, and the trains were not pre-made dishes, so the meals on the train at that time were naturally freshly fried.
The person in charge of the train will specially invite a few good local chefs to cook on the train, and the cooks will naturally bring regional characteristics.
At that time, the ingredients used on the train were basically supplemented by one station, and they were all fresh ingredients, unlike pre-made dishes, and I didn't know how long ago they were made when I ate them, and they didn't match the freshness at all.
For people on the train, eating a train lunch is also enjoying a special regional food, and the meals at that time can be described as full of color, flavor and flavor.
Sometimes, the chef on the train will prepare several large meals, comparable to the meals of a five-star restaurant, of course, such a meal, the price must be very high, but, as the author mentioned before, if the meal is delicious, even if it is expensive, someone must pay.
At that time, the train box lunch was really well done, and there were many people who bought it, but it was not like the bleak appearance of the waiter calling a whole carriage and no one bought it in the end.
«——【·Conclusion·】——»
Looking back, look at the boxed lunch on the train now, obviously the technology has improved, but it is not popular anymore, and now there are more people on the train, but the excitement is not at all as before.
The loneliness of the train lunch box, in the final analysis, is because it is no longer delicious, and the rest, whether it is the shortening of the journey or the rise of fast food, are very secondary reasons.
If the train lunch boxes can be delicious again, they will surely return to the pomp and circumstance of the green train era.
Information sources:
There are thousands of passengers on a train, why can't even dozens of boxed lunches be sold, the answer is - Binhai Media
The huge profits behind the high-speed rail box lunch: "Snow Hidden" 15 yuan fast food only said after asking - China Youth Network
Rod, go further.
At that time, we may be able to relive the wonderful ride experience of the past and enjoy the authentic flavors of the journey.
In short, the long-standing food culture of train bento should not disappear. It has witnessed the glorious years of railway development, and also reflects the changes in this country. It is expected that it can adapt to the development of the times and glow with new brilliance in the new era.
Resources:
Binhai Financial Media "There are thousands of passengers on a train, why can't even dozens of boxed lunches be sold, the answer is here"