Vending machine cooks pizza in minutes

[paulham]

A vending machine that cooks pizza from scratch in a matter of minutes has been launched in Italy
The vending machine, which has been greeted by the country's pizza-makers with a mixture of horror and disdain, has clear plastic windows to allow customers to see the ingredients being mixed and cooked. It can produce a piping hot pizza for just 3.50 euros (£3.30) - about half what you would pay in a restaurant.

To make matters worse for pizza aficionados, the machine was invented by one of their own – an Italian businessman who made his money selling fresh pasta in the United States.
Claudio Torghele, 56, from Rovereto in Italy's mountainous north, took a decade to perfect the machine, which he has called Let's Pizza.

What distinguishes his invention from other vending machines is that it does not just warm up a pre-cooked or frozen pizza.

Instead it whips up flour and water into a doughy paste, squashes it into a 12-inch wide disc, smears it with tomato sauce and then offers a choice of four toppings – margherita, ham, bacon or vegetables. It is then cooked in front of the customer's eyes and served in a cardboard box.

The machine, which costs £22,000, was developed with the help of the Anglo-Dutch food conglomerate Unilever.

Mr Torghele hopes that in these economically straitened times, in which families are eating out less, his three-minute pizzas could grab a large slice of the takeaway food market.

A few of the machines are already in operation but he hopes to sell a lot more in Italy and other European countries this summer.

But the guardians of one of Italy's most famous culinary exports are far from impressed.

"Pizza that comes out of an automatic machine has nothing to do with Italian pizza," said Pino Morelli, the head of the Association of Italian Pizzerias.

"It might be alright for McDonalds and other fast-food chains or for foreign markets like the US, China and India but anyone wanting to eat a real pizza has to go to a traditional pizzeria."

Italian pizza makers were the envy of the world and could not be replaced by a machine, Mr Morelli said.

"The craft of the pizza-maker has been rediscovered, and the number of people wanting to learn the art of the pizza is growing. It's a reliable and well-paid craft."

Despite the image of Italians indulging in long lazy lunches and favouring fresh ingredients over frozen food, the country embraces vending machines with gusto.

Italy boasts more than 600,000 of them – more than in the UK – and they sell everything from espresso coffee to cut flowers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5012972/Vending-machine-cooks-pizza-in-minutes.html

What next ? Fresh spaghetti?

[loulou]

Vending machines are good.

[netbuddy]

I would try one to see how good they are.

Although I do not think that the art of pizza making will die out as it is an art, if you have ever tried to make your own pizza base, you will know!

[wjp666]

i've been waiting my whole life for this!

[drterror666]

I would try it, but I don't think it could replace a proper stone-baked oven.

[netbuddy]

i've been waiting my whole life for this!

Well your weight is over

[drterror666]

Boom, tish!  Thank you, ladies and gen'lemen!  Netbuddy's here all week!

[wjp666]

that was actually rather good. it's a thumbs up from me!

[loulou]

they are definitely a good idea for anyone in a hurry.

[oldspice]

I would love to see the results if all that whipping, kneeding and squashing of flour, water, tomato paste and toppings went wrong! You know, when you order tomato soup from a vending machine and you get a hot choctomatolate drink? Well imagine what a pizza machine could come up with!!

Still, it would be worth trying one to see how it turns out. I wonder what the unit price is?

[netbuddy]

£22k for the machine, which for a business is very cheap.

[oldspice]

No, I meant the price of each pizza!

[netbuddy]

£3.30 as quoted in the article.

If you do the math, one of these running flat out would break even in a month which in any business is a real earner.

[paulham]

Is the guy playing "pocket billiards" whilst holding that pizza?

[netbuddy]

Checkin his executive change init...