Many people are used to buying chips, candy bars and soda from vending machines, but many other types of foods also can be purchased from vending machines. In Singapore, for example, it's possible to buy mashed potatoes and gravy from a machine, and in Australia, standalone machines offer french fries. Other types of unusual vending machine food include hot dogs and canned bread.
More about unusual vending machine food:
- Some vending machines in California sell baked goods that have been infused with medical marijuana. To use the machines, customers must provide their fingerprints and scan their medical marijuana cards.
- People in China can buy live crabs from vending machines, which guarantees that the crabs are alive. Customers get a dead crab can file claims for three live replacements.
- An automat is a type of restaurant where patrons can deposit money into a large vending machine and then remove foods such as salads, sandwiches and hot entrees. The patrons can then eat the food at one of the restaurant's counters or tables.
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More Info: www.vending.org
Discussion Comments
That's life here in the USA. You can get anything from a vending machine.
@Lassie: That is so funny! And I heard about the used schoolgirl panties in Japan but I also heard it was declared illegal. Still, unbelievable. This fascinates me, though.
More strange vending foods: Australia and Canada: french fries; China: live crab! France: baguettes; Italy: pizza (of course); Japan: uncooked eggs (farm fresh), canned bread, 10kg bags of rice and live lobsters; Spain: milk (farm fresh liter-sized).
Not food, but unusual, nonetheless: gold bars in Germany, worms (for fishing) in Poland, and toilet paper in Japan.
A machine that dispenses mashed potatoes and gravy? And fries, and hot dogs? I've heard of such things! My husband would have them installed in the kitchen, if he could.
I read once there are dispensing machines in Japan right on the streets that hold any number of strange things. Panties! (new or used, I wonder?) Beer - though I think they took that away. I would love to see those machines.
Well, vending machines are supposed to -- vend.
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