Meaning
A takeaway meal packed in a foam or cardboard box — typically rice with a stew or fried meat and some vegetables, bought from a cookshop, restaurant, or roadside vendor. 'Box food' is the everyday name for this quick, cheap hot lunch, the standard midday meal for workers, and to 'buy a box food' is a familiar part of the working day. Convenient and filling, it stands in easy contrast to a proper home-cooked dinner.
Examples
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Mi nuh feel fi cook, mek wi buy two box food.
I don't feel like cooking, let's buy two takeaway meals.
'box food' functions as a count noun here, pluralised by context rather than by an added -s.
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Di box food deh road cheap an di portion big.
The takeaway food on the road is cheap and the portions are large.
'deh road' means 'out on the street', referring to roadside vendors.
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Every lunchtime di office send fi box food.
Every lunchtime the office sends out for takeaway meals.
'send fi' means to send someone to fetch something.
Origin
From English 'box' (the container) and 'food'; a descriptive compound naming the meal by its packaging.
How it’s used
Everyday and neutral. Refers to the affordable packaged lunch culture in Jamaica; not to be confused with fine dining or home-cooked meals.