How Chinese Food Took Over the Takeaway Market

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Why is the humble oyster pail synonymous with delivery? The first time the “takeaway” emoji popped on my cellphone, it struck me as oddly familiar. Although the exact image varies across operating systems, it usually features an oyster pail with an image of a pagoda on it; sometimes you can make out English in a font stylized to resemble Chinese characters. The oyster pail — a folded, waxed paper food container — was patented by Frederick Weeks Wilcox in 1894, and as its name suggests, was originally intended to hold shucked oyster meat. According to The New York Times, it was an unknown designer at a packaging company in the 1970s who first added the pagoda and what is now known as the “wonton font.” At the time, Chinese restaurants had just begun to discover the utility of the tiny white boxes for transporting stir-fried dishes — often laden with grease and sauce — to the homes of customers who ordered by phone. Soon, the oyster pail had become as much a symbol of Chi ………………………………