The concept of prepared meals to be eaten elsewhere dates back to antiquity. Market and roadside stalls selling food were common in
Ancient Greece and
Rome. Many people relied on them for their daily food. In
Pompeii, archaeologists have found a number of
thermopolia, service counters opening onto the street which provided food to be taken away. There is a distinct lack of formal dining and kitchen area in Pompeian homes, which may suggest that eating, or at least cooking, at home was unusual. Over 200
thermopolia have been found in the ruins of Pompeii. In the cities of medieval Europe, a number of street vendors sold take-out food. In medieval London, street vendors sold hot meat
pies,
geese,
sheep's feet and French
wine, while in Paris roasted
meats,
squab,
tarts and
flans,
cheeses and eggs were available. A large strata of society would have purchased food from these vendors, but they were especially popular amongst the urban poor, who would have lacked kitchen facilities in which to prepare their own food. However, these vendors often had a bad reputation, often being in trouble with
city authorities reprimanding them for selling infected meat or reheated food. The cooks of
Norwich often defended themselves in court against selling such things as "
pokky pies" and "stynkyng mackerelles". In 10th and 11th century
China, citizens of cities such as
Kaifeng and
Hangzhou were able to buy pastries such as
yuebing and
congyoubing to take away. By the early 13th century, the two most successful such shops in Kaifeng had "upwards of fifty ovens". A traveling Florentine reported in the late 14th century that in
Cairo, people carried picnic cloths made of
rawhide to spread on the streets and eat their meals of
lamb kebabs,
rice and
fritters that they had purchased from street vendors. In Renaissance
Turkey, many crossroads saw vendors selling "fragrant bites of hot meat", including chicken and lamb that had been
spit roasted.
Aztec marketplaces had vendors that sold beverages such as
atole ("a
gruel made from
maize dough"), almost 50 types of
tamales (with ingredients that ranged from the meat of
turkey,
rabbit,
gopher,
frog, and fish, fruit, eggs, and maize flowers), as well as insects and stews. After
Spanish colonization of Peru and importation of European food stocks including
wheat,
sugarcane and livestock, most commoners continued primarily to eat their traditional diets, but did add grilled beef hearts sold by street vendors. Some of Lima's 19th century street vendors such as "Erasmo, the 'negro' sango vendor" and Na Aguedita are still remembered today. During the
American colonial period, street vendors sold "
pepper pot soup" (tripe) "
oysters,
roasted corn ears,
fruit and
sweets", with oysters being a low-priced commodity until the 1910s when
overfishing caused prices to rise. In 1707, after previous restrictions that had limited their operating hours,
street food vendors had been banned in New York City. Many women
of African descent made their living selling street foods in America in the 18th and 19th centuries; with products ranging from fruit,
cakes and
nuts in
Savannah, Georgia, to
coffee,
biscuits,
pralines and other sweets in
New Orleans. In the 19th century, street food vendors in
Transylvania sold
gingerbread-nuts, cream mixed with corn, and
bacon and other meat fried on tops of ceramic vessels with hot coals inside. The
Industrial Revolution saw an increase in the availability of take-out food. By the early 20th century,
fish and chips was considered an "established institution" in
Britain. The
hamburger was introduced to
America around this time. The diets of
industrial workers were often poor, and these meals provided an "important component" to their nutrition. In
India, local businesses and cooperatives, had begun to supply workers in the city of
Mumbai (Bombay) with
tiffin boxes by the end of the 19th century. The
COVID-19 pandemic led to many
restaurants closing their indoor dining spaces and only offering take-out. ==Business operation==