Melbourne Is Getting Salad Vending Machines

Forget stale chips and overpriced packets of lollies. A Melbourne-based outfit is looking to change the way you think about vending machines, with a new automatic outlet dispensing a variety of healthy options, including salads, falafel and even freshly-chopped celery and carrots. Best of all? Unsold salads go to Melbourne's homeless population. Nice one.

Built out of recycled timber, the first FüD vending machine is officially up and running in the Westfield Doncaster food court, full of gourmet meals made using healthy, organic produce. Jars of salad will cost you $10 a pop, and come in a number of different varieties including the ‘Pump It Up’ (pumpkin, roast shallots, beetroot chips and white bean mousse), the ‘Super Soba’ (green tea soba noodles, zucchini and carrot) and the ‘Roast Dutch’ (carrots, roast capsicum, Danish feta and house-made dukkah). For an extra $4 customers can add a protein, be it falafel, roast chicken or a hard-boiled egg.

The machine is also stocked with a variety of snack options, including ‘Overnight Oats’ (organic oats soaked in coconut milk, with banana, hazelnut and rice malt syrup) and ‘Holy Granola’ (natural organic yoghurt drizzled with homemade raspberry coulis and paleo granola).

Got dietary requirements? The FüD vending machine is stocked with a number of choices for people on paleo, vegan, sugar-free or gluten-free diets. All meals are made fresh and delivered daily, and the machine is refrigerated to ensure nothing spoils. Best of all, leftovers are donated to Homeless of Melbourne, ensuring that nothing goes to waste. Total legends.

In addition to their Doncaster dispensary, FüD will launch a second machine in the HoMie store in Melbourne Central on July 6, with five more locations planned for later in the year. They currently have no plans to expand beyond Victoria, although All Real Food already runs a similar operation up in Brisbane.

For more information, visit www.thefudrevolution.com

Via Good Food.