'I tried pizza vending machine in France and was floored by how long it took'
Imagine craving a pizza and being able to go and get a hot one made by a machine at the side of the road? That's exactly what one woman did when she was on holiday in France and spotted a pizza vending machine. Hannah, who posts on TikTok as @thrivingwithhannah, explained that she'd "pulled over at the side of the road" to give the pizza a go.
She shared that they'd already had dinner, but she wanted to try it anyway, so her followers could "see what it does". Hannah opted for La Reine, which is a classic pizza featuring ham, mushrooms, and black olives, and she chose it to be hot, as opposed to cold.
At this point, she probably wasn't expecting much, and many in the comments were wondering how the vending machine even works.
She paid €12 (£10.36) for the pizza, and there was a "little countdown going," and then after about four minutes, the pizza popped out of the hatch.
Hannah joked: "They've actually set up a little table here so people can enjoy their pizza at the side of the road in a civilised manner".
The shiny circular foil packaging was encasing the pizza, and she said she was going to open it up.
When she did, Hannah said: "That looks very nice," and it was time for the definitive taste test.
She only had two sporks, so struggled slightly to eat it, but she took some of the centre of the pizza and tried it. The verdict? "That's really good," she admitted.
Hannah did note that it wasn't "boiling hot," but it was "very warm" and was worth a try "if you're travelling in France this summer".
Someone in the comments wrote: "This is probably going to make people question my ability to home educate my children… but are there people inside?"
Another responded: "Hahaha crying. I assume they're dispensed by a machine and then heated. I used to think there were little ant-sized people in the radio when I was a kid making all the music".
So, how do pizza vending machines actually work?
You order the pizza using a touchscreen to select their pizza type, size, and sometimes extra toppings. Payment is made via card, mobile payment, or sometimes cash.
The machine stores pre-prepared pizza bases (dough), sauces, cheese, and toppings in refrigerated compartments. Once an order is placed, robotic arms or automated dispensers assemble the pizza by adding sauce, cheese, and chosen toppings onto the dough.
The assembled pizza is moved into a built-in oven (usually convection or infrared), where it is cooked at high temperatures for a few minutes (typically 3–5 minutes).
Sensors monitor the cooking process to ensure the pizza is cooked evenly.
After cooking, the pizza is placed into a box or tray by the machine. The boxed pizza is delivered to a retrieval slot where the customer can collect it.
Many machines have self-cleaning cycles and are regularly restocked and maintained by operators.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
11 minutes ago
- Spectator
Why the world is obsessed with white women
Until a couple of weeks ago, the clothing company American Eagle was mainly known as a kind of low-rent Levi's. Founded in 1977, headquartered in Pennsylvania, the firm – specialising in denim, casualwear and kids' clothes – has quietly expanded into Europe, and beyond, without ever generating much excitement. Let alone a worldwide culture war. All that changed in July, when the company launched a new ad campaign featuring the petite, sassy, curvaceously ubiquitous actress Sydney Sweeney – very much This Year's Blonde – draping her desirable shape in the company's clothes. Several ads have been made, they all feature variations on the line 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.' A clear pun on genes. The result, whether intended or not, has been online uproar. Entire data centres have been devoted to churning out TikTok reels and YouTube mewls where women – and it is nearly all women – complain about the ad blitz, denouncing its connotations of white supremacy, of eugenics, of Nazi racist hierarchy – and of enforcing 19th century imperialist ideals of European beauty. All the more since Sweeney has been identified as a registered Republican in Florida. Some of the women complaining are white liberals, many are Asian or black (often in tears of fury or distress). Sydney Sweeney, of course, is notably young, blonde, blue eyed – and white. And there, I fancy, is the rub. What we are witnessing is not peculiarly or entirely a modern kulturkampf against renewed colonialist discourse. What we are witnessing is, as well, the age-old and rather awkward fact that pale/white women are perceived by almost all humanity as more desirable, and have been for all of recorded history. And this evokes – understandably – resentment, envy, anger, even rage, and now tearful TikToks, in others. Don't believe me? Think I'm trolling? Let me run you, like a blonde girl dancing through harvest corn in a retro cereal ad, by the plentiful evidence. As long ago as 3000 BC Egyptian art shows high class women (or deities) as being desirably paler than males. This can be found on tiny faience figurines and enormous funereal paintings, and it persists for 30 centuries. Egyptian love poems also praise the pale skin of mortal sweethearts – the earliest written evidence for the preference. Again, this poetic trope lasted for millennia. Moving on to Greece and Rome, we find the same pattern. Upper class Greek women were so keen to enhance their whiteness they used toxic white lead as face paint (a phenomenon which recurs throughout history – think of England's white virgin Queen, Gloriana). The concept – white women best – was amplified in Imperial Rome. The poet Ovid explicitly mentions it in his work Medicamina Faciei Femineae. Like the Greeks (and so many others) high-status Roman women used dangerous cosmetics – cerussa –to preserve the wanted pallor. Cleopatra bathed in asses' milk to accentuate the milkiness of her skin. Nor is this exclusively a European and Middle Eastern phenomenon. In Ancient Han and Tang China, the preference for white skinned women was deeply ingrained. The legendary beauty Wang Zhaojun was famed for her 'pale skin'. Chinese women even drank 'pearl powder' to achieve a pearly whiteness. Further east, in Heian Japan, the yearning for whiteness was easily as marked, with porcelain pale skin seen as the acme of loveliness (think of white painted geishas, even today). An enduring Japanese proverb says 'white skin covers the seven flaws' implying that white skin is such an erotic prize, it can compensate for other physical or social disadvantages. One of the most notable examples of this socio-cultural phenomenon can be found – perhaps ironically – in Islam. Many know that dead jihadi warriors are promised '72 virgins in paradise', fewer realise that the Quran and various hadiths promise, overtly, that these wonderful virgins will be white: fragrant 'houris' with skin so translucent you can 'see the marrow in the bones'. This urgent preference for white-skinned women runs throughout Islamic history. Early Islamic warriors were fired up for battle against Byzantium with the promise of 'the white girls' they would find as booty within Byzantine cities. Over following centuries Muslim emirates, kingdoms and empires made plain their wants via the slave trade, where white women – especially blondes – fetched far higher prices in the slave markets of Constantinople. Some historians have argued that the southwards Viking slave trade through Russia existed primarily to sate this imperious Muslim hunger for white skinned blue-eyed blondes, fetched from the British Isles, northern Europe, and Slavic countries. Circassian girls from the Caucasus mountains – famed for their soulful whiteness – were exported throughout the Islamic world, and this trade continued into the early 20th century. The case is made, but not explained. Why has much of the world desired paler, whiter women? The obvious answer is that, through most of history, darker skin has denoted outdoors toil, farmwork, poverty. The ability to avoid this and stay indoors, or under a parasol, soon became associated with high status and elite women, and thus a sun-less pallor became a near-universal preference. There are also some highly contentious evolutionary explanations. Women of all ancestries tend to be paler than men, paleness therefore equals femininity, ergo 'the more paleness the better.' There is also some evidence that female skin darkens as women age, so whiteness or paleness perhaps equates to youth, fertility, nubility. And desirability. None of this denies that European colonisers – in the 19th century – imposed grotesque, racist European ideals of beauty across the world. Nor does this deny the real harm that rigid beauty standards can inflict. When young women of colour grow up seeing only pale-skinned models celebrated in media, when skin-lightening creams cause genuine physical damage across Africa and Asia – these things are immoral or unjust. But the truth is, 'white woman equals beautiful woman' is a concept so deeply rooted in human culture, right back to the Sumerians, it is probably ineradicable. Will any of this matter to Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle? Maybe they will be intrigued that their ad campaign is perpetuating a stereotype that dates back to an early Egyptian poet near Luxor, who praised his lover's 'brilliantly white, shining skin'. They will probably be more excited by the fact that, as I write, American Eagle's stock price has risen 10 per cent.
Metro
11 minutes ago
- Metro
Rod Stewart's 'tacky' AI tribute comes far too soon after Ozzy Osbourne's death
Fans at Sir Rod Stewart's latest gigs were left horrified after an AI video of Ozzy Osbourne meeting dead musicians in heaven was shown on screen. The Prince of Darkness could be seen smiling as he held a selfie stick and posed with the likes of George Michael, Amy Winehouse, and Kurt Cobain. It played as Sir Rod dedicated the track Forever Young to the late Black Sabbath legend, but many felt the AI video was too 'tacky' and simply too soon. Osbourne died aged 76 on July 22 and was laid to rest on July 31, with a procession through his hometown of Birmingham. Days later, on Saturday, August 2, the AI video was splashed across the screen in what one fan described as 'man-made horrors beyond [their] comprehension.' Using artificially generated footage of dead celebrities (and regular people) always proves contentious, but Sir Rod really angered fans with this move. So Rod Stewart has been on tour dedicating Forever Young to Ozzy… and now he's showing the AI generated video of him in heaven taking selfies with all these dead artists… I've seen some shitty AI visuals in concerts but this is a new low — peter lane (@peterlanee) August 3, 2025 Sloane Steel, who was at the Alabama concert where the video was unveiled, called it 'the craziest most disrespectful s**t I ever saw in my life'. The comments on her Instagram post largely agreed with her, as playattentionnow replied: 'Weekend at Bernie's vibes. Prince didn't even want his music on Spotify and changed his name to a Symbol to protect his intellectual property. 'I'm 100% sure he wouldn't have signed off on Rod Stewart puppeteering his face for this tacky 💩.' Dietcokeconnoisseur added: 'Omfg I was there too and was horrified by this 😂.' 'Good idea: pay tribute to Ozzy and his friends in heaven,' said theroseboy22. 'Bad Idea: Making an AI-generated video with his dead friends/members.' The (somewhat baffling) list included Prince, George Michael, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Tina Turner, Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, Aaliyah, Michael Jackson and XXXTentacion. 'Those aren't even Ozzy's friends,' criticised jenndependence. 'I doubt he even knew most of those people. That's part of what makes this so cringey, they just threw in any dead celebrity they could think of. Even more bizarre, the video was seemingly taken from a TikTok account called Eternal Stars, the sole purpose of which is to make AI videos of dead people. This wasn't a tribute made by Sir Rod's team, or footage taken from old Osbourne videos (of which there are plenty) or even a personal picture of the pair together. It was made by a random TikTok AI generator with no personal touch at all, plastered on a screen by someone who called Osbourne his 'friend'. The resounding feeling from fans was that this was a huge misstep on a topic that is still incredibly raw for many people. Many are still grieving the death of the icon who invented heavy metal, making Sir Rod's surprising inclusion even more jarring. Only days before, we all watched a heartbroken Sharon Osbourne weeping in her children's arms as she stood at Black Sabbath Bridge to see the thousands of tributes left for her husband. At the time of the Glastonbury Legend's concert, it hadn't even been a full month since Osbourne was last on stage himself for his farewell gig with Black Sabbath. Described as 'frail' by bandmate Geezer Butler, he sat in a chair the entire gig, looking thrilled to perform one final time for the sea of fans. More Trending That's before we even dive into the morality of reanimating dead celebrities, often without their permission, to use their likeness for our own gain. Shockingly, there are no requirements to gain permission to make AI deepfakes of people, so it's unlikely the Osbournes were even aware of the original TikTok. While Sir Rod may not have meant to offend fans, he clearly has. Maybe it's best to quietly drop the AI and use some iconic Osbourne clips instead, at least then he'll be authentically Ozzy. Metro has reached out to Sir Rod Stewart's reps for comment. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Jack Osbourne admits he 'doesn't have a great relationship' with sister Aimee MORE: Yungblud shares poignant tribute for friend Ozzy Osbourne after the rock legend is laid to rest MORE: Sharon Osbourne tearfully greets fans at Ozzy's emotional funeral in Birmingham
Scottish Sun
11 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Axed Love Islander Emma addresses villa feud as she reveals Islander she was ‘scared' to speak to and secret rows
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) AXED Love Islander Emma has addressed the villa feud and revealed the Islander she was 'scared' to speak to, as well as secret rows that never aired. The ITV2 star, 30, spoke candidly during a chat aired on Spill With Will's TikTok page - just days after she broke her silence about her and Harry plotting to win the show's £50K cash prize. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 4 Axed Love Islander Emma has addressed the villa feud Credit: YouTube/Spill With Will 4 She revealed that she was 'scared' to speak to Dejon Credit: Eroteme 4 Emma revealed: 'I really felt funny around him. Out of everyone in the villa, he was the only one" Credit: YouTube/Spill With Will Love Island 2025 OG Harry, 30, was initially left stunned when his real-world ex Emma entered the Mallorca compound, and he could be heard saying: "Oh my god, it's my ex." Now, amid the villa feud with the girls and the obvious divide, Emma has had her say. She admitted on the podcast that she was 'scared' to speak to Dejon, who was dumped alongside Meg on Sunday night. Emma revealed: 'I really felt funny around him. Out of everyone in the villa, he was the only one. 'I avoided him. I didn't like his energy at all, something in my gut was telling me 'leave that man alone.'' She continued: 'He was putting the bombshells down, right from the get go. He never even said hello to me either, and I just thought what are you doing.' Emma also spoke about there being 'little bickers here, there and everywhere.' She said: 'I think I had bickers with everyone in the villa but only a handful got shown. 'They really wanted to focus on the Harry storyline which is annoying. No one saw mine and Boris' story. 'There was so much else they could've picked and everyone was confused that we went into the Hideaway which baffles me because the lead up to it had been going on for so long. Love Island OG's Meg and Dejon DUMPED by returning islanders 'They chose to pick the negative moments but it's all for the drama I guess.' Emma, who underwent an image revamp prior to her time in the dating programme, also let slip their last conversation before he entered the ITV2 series as a show OG. She denied knowing he was going on the matchmaking series and said: "No, he [Harry] sent me the weirdest text right before he went into holding. "And he basically said 'oh you won't be able to contact me for the summer, please get hold of my mum if you need anything.' "I thought oh he's going to rehab. "Or he's checked into a wellness centre, how wrong was I?" Emma, who was recently given the boot from the show, told how she first became aware of his telly gig when she saw his Instagram post. She added: "I wasn't shocked you know. "I feel like this is a bit of him, he'd be the perfect candidate. "And he has been, he's carried the show on his back lets be honest."
