It’s after midnight and you want some fresh hamburger or a can of pate. What are you going to do? Well, if you’re in Paris, France, you simply find the right butcher shop on Rue de Charonne and pop some coins into their meat vending machine out front.
The owners of L’ami Txulette spent about $45,000 US to install the refrigerated machine that stocks vacuum-packed steaks, chops and other meaty products around the clock. They’re closed Sundays and Mondays, and say that even though they’re open until 8 pm Tuesday to Saturday, some people don’t get out of work in time to stop in.
They also hope to cash in on the late night bar crowd heading home with a hankering to cook up a chicken or chop. Customers can also stop by one of the city’s many baguette machines and plan a sandwich. Who needs vegetables?
Anyone who’s watched a KitKat get hung up in the mechanism knows vending machines aren’t 100% reliable. What if that $18 steak fails to fall and you need to buy another one to knock it down? Older Parisians say they’re quite content to line up at the store in the daytime to buy their sausages but younger ones find it inconvenient. There’s another sausage-only vending machine in a small French town where a butcher is renowned for his sausages. It’s taking us one step closer to a Jetsons-style life, where you hit a button on your microwave and what you choose is cooked and delivered right then and there. If the meat is being kept at the proper temperature and it makes life easier for busy Parisians, I’d be willing to try it. As long as it doesn’t taste like the inside of a vending machine.
Coming Soon: Computer, Timmy’s large dark roast, one and a half cream, no sugar please!