Dining at the Automat -- 1902

[J. Wilhelm]

It doesn't mater any way - we'll soon be eating Soylent Green anyway!  Have you heard about this "Soylent Diet"?

http://www.businessinsider.com/rob-rhinehart-food-substitute-soylent-2013-3

[Arabella Periscope]

A lovely idea of Retro-Futurism; Mr. Bowman's images of the Automat combined with many functions, including the laundry in the original tv series 'Lost in Space' in which the laundry was posted into a slot.  It was invisibly broken down into its atomic components and remade, and moments later posted back in an envolope. 

[RJBowman]

Update:

Someone in Harlem has a basement full of automat machines:
https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/stories-from-the-automat-machines-in-a-harlem-basement/?scp=1&sq=automat&st=cse

A business opportunity for someone.

[Drew P]

Interexting "update", doesn't that article come from 2010?
Or has my Tablet tricked me again?

[RJBowman]

Interexting "update", doesn't that article come from 2010?
Or has my Tablet tricked me again?

It was news to me.

[RJBowman]

Interesting. I was looking at a completely unrelated article, and down at the bottom was a link to this:
http://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Crowds-flock-to-new-S-F-tech-friendly-fast-food-6478759.php

The two year old article is about a new restaurant where you order through your smart phone and pick up your plate at a numbered window.

The food is quinoa bowls, which doesn't appeal to my midwestern tastes, but it looks like food that could eventually be prepared by automated machinery; a completely automated automat.

[Hurricane Annie]

 Here in the Antipodes , vending machine food is fairly mainstream.  Soft drinks, water, fruit juice, flavored milk, candy bars [called chocolate bars here even if they don't have chocolate ], packets of nuts, potato chips etc. , sandwiches.  They are in  the usual places Iike hospitals,  some car parks,  cafeteria, work places.

 Though I can see a market for other snacks and meals, and other venues  the could be utilised  in. Transport centres , laundromat, rest stops.

[RJBowman]

Automat isn't quite the same thing as vending machines; at an automat there is a kitchen on the other side of the bank of coin-operated doors, with someone constantly restocking the compartments with fresh plates.

[Hurricane Annie]

Automat isn't quite the same thing as vending machines; at an automat there is a kitchen on the other side of the bank of coin-operated doors, with someone constantly restocking the compartments with fresh plates.

Then we have nothing here as excellent  as that.  I could  see a few places where thar  could work  too.

[RJBowman]

The final evolution of the automat, the TRUE automat:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2018/05/08/robots-made-lunch-enjoyed-that-wrong/YXyTNtHKkCe66AZAbhglkN/story.html

[Hurricane Annie]

 Robot food preparation is probably no less appetising  than manual - though I can see where things could go horribly wrong

[J. Wilhelm]

But is it really an automat? If you still need to have an employee pick up the prepared food and supervise the machines? Not that I want a fully automated experience. Same as a self driving car, things can and will go horribly wrong at some point. I'd hate to have my stomach pumped or worse surgically opened after an accident involving a robot.

[RJBowman]

I just found this:



My source says that this is a "Pluto Lamp" gas lamp, installed at several points in London in 1897. The base of the lamp is a vending machine that dispenses hot coffee, tea and cocoa.

[J. Wilhelm]

Could the Automat make a comeback in Post COVID-19 times? I'm looking at what restaurants are having to do to admit patrons and it looks both, ridiculous and inherently dangerous.

Imagine self cleaning booths enclosed in plastic, like closed train cabins, and automat like windows in the wall. Waiters would bring your order behind the wall, never being in contact with customers. The advantage is that it allows for a more normal dining experience for the patrons, who don't have to be wearing masks inside the booth (which can self clean afterwards). It's kind of sad, but it could be made glamorous...

Back in the 1970s the was (and still is) a beach hotel called "Las Brisas" in the resort city of Acapulco. Being a 1950-60s style swanky place, in typical James Bond style, the rooms were not in a building, but rather were isolated bungalows on a steep tropical mountainside . Hotel guests moved about on steep cobble streets from the hotel to the town by way of a rented Jeeps painted in bright pink and white livery, like a glam version of a Safari vehicle (I guess that was part of the charm)

The rooms featured private poolsaoutside, and inside had little trap doors on the walls through which waiters could bring you the complimentary breakfast, drinks or your room service. The hotel employees could not see the guests through the doors (who no doubtedly were engaged in indecent activities, true to James Bond fashion. *puffy shirt, crooked teeth and glasses* Yeah, baby!).

I'm thinking that the "little trap doors" could become ubiquitous in the Post COVID Era...

[Captain]

Does anyone remember the old Sliders TV series?  The first episode they land in a world where antibiotics had been invented.  The restaurant they ate in was an automat with ultra-sterilized, flavorless food and UV disinfecting lights sweeping the room.  It just seems timely. 

[J. Wilhelm]

Does anyone remember the old Sliders TV series?  The first episode they land in a world where antibiotics had been invented.  The restaurant they ate in was an automat with ultra-sterilized, flavorless food and UV disinfecting lights sweeping the room.  It just seems timely. 

Oh yes, With COVID 19 you lose your sense of smell and taste. We will all be eating gruel.