An Italian entrepreneur has invented a vending machine which can make pizza from scratch in three minutes. Having slotted around £2.50 into the machine, customers can view their pizza’s progress from base ingredients into piping hot pizza through viewing windows. The machine is scheduled to roll out in Italy and then surrounding countries over the summer.
Italy’s pizza chefs are distinctly sniffy about the whole thing with one spokesman dismissing it with the wonderfully haughty phrase ‘it might be alright for Macdonalds.’
Hot food vending machines are big in European cities like Amsterdam but don’t seem so popular here. A few years back, there was a fast food vending outlet on Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square that dished out things like reheated pizza slices. It didn’t last long, perhaps because there is a whiff of the works canteen about the concept.
Much like deciding whether Lily Allen is sassier than Lady GaGa or whether or not Coldplay are more dull than Snow Patrol, deciding who makes the best pizza is down to personal preference as much as anything else.
In Edinburgh, I have a soft spot for La Favorita and Zanzero. In Glasgow, pizza lovers are overwhelmed with choice. I hear good things about Little Italy and must mention the Sarti restaurants and ever popular DiMaggio‘s outlets.
While on the subject of Italian restaurants, congrats to La Parmigiana which has just regained its two AA rosettes. It is one of only seven Italian restaurants and three pizza restaurants across the UK to have won Gold Awards by the Pizza Pasta & Italian Food Association (PAPA).