Vending machine technology has long lagged behind where it could be, given the fact that vending machines have been around for more than a century. Aside from the odd machine that offers hot drinks or ice cream, the latter hardly much of an accomplishment given that most units are refrigerated to begin with. Japanese vending machines offer users a lot more possibilities than American ones do, but offering packaged gadgets is similar to offering packaged food. At least one company feels that the way of the future might be hot, freshly made food from vending machines.

Wonderpizza gives the consumer more variety in their snack foods, offering pizzas to order at the touch of a button. The machine is stocked with pizzas that are cooked in a high intensity toaster oven, popping out in about 2 minutes with a crust at one of three crispness settings. The pizzas are individually sized and retail for about $5.

Now if only they could make a version with a wood-fire pizza oven - that would be a vending machine definitely worth stopping for!

[thanks, anna!]

Snacks are fine, but you don't have to be a food snob to be above getting your meals from a vending machine.

When we heard that Bamn!, an automat in New York, was opening, we gave it a mention just like so many other food-loving writers did. Was it the food of the future? As it turns out, it was the food of the past: a machine that was futuristic in the 1940's, stocked with food that is just plain "gross."

The New York Post hated it and judging by their (hilarious) review, it's a wonder that anyone can stomach the food there at all. The offerings, which include peanut-butter-and-jelly empanadas (sound suspiciously like Uncrustables gone horribly, horribly wrong) and Chicken "teriburgers," are "possibly the worst foodstuffs ever offered for human consumption outside a famine zone." Steve Cuozzo noted that he saw more people taking pictures than eating the food. Clearly they had already heard about the food.

Our go-go-gadget cousins over at Engadget have discovered Moo Bella, a vending machine that dispenses ice cream.

Now ice cream out of a vending machine isn't totally innovative - we've seen things like packaged ice cream bars, popsicles and "drumstick"-types. However, Moo Bella has taken ice cream enjoyment one step further by dispensing freshly scooped ice cream in 12 different flavors, with three different mix-ins. That means you can create a custom flavor for yourself, without the sassy teenaged ice cream parlor employee.