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5 months ago
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Food lovers in France are having their prayers answered as 24-hour cheese dispensers are launched.
Vending machines stocking 'artisanal fromage' are now dotted around France, appearing in rail stations, village squares and motorway service stops.
These machines are open day and night to satisfy cravings around the clock.
Refrigeration inside prevents the pungent smell of many cheeses from wafting into the surrounding area.
It comes as the makers of hundreds of appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), the protected regional cheese types, seek new ways to bring their produce to consumers.
Food lovers rejoice as 24-hour cheese dispensers open up around France (Pictured: French cheese maker Fabien Picard carries a pallet with cheese to fill his vending machine at the train station in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)
Vending machines are popping up in railway stations, village squares and motorway services (Pictured: Fabian Picard, head of La fromager dairy, fills his cheese vending machine in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)
The automatic dispensers are refrigerated, protecting the surrounding area from wafting smells (Pictured: Cheesemaker Fabien Picard fills his cheese vending machine in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)
Farm cooperatives and small producers are banding together to finance the often-costly machines.
This is the latest in a trend of automatic dispensers of food including pizzas, oysters, muscles, charcuterie, eggs and butter.
The number of fresh bread dispensers, usually featuring baguettes, is also growing.
With France being the home of so many popular cheeses, including camembert, roquefort and reblochon, this was the logical next step.
These vending machines initially took off during the pandemic, because customers could serve themselves without putting on masks and entering shops.
Regional officials are now encouraging the dispensers to promote local quality produce.
They are especially apprecaited in rural areas, where the closure of local outlets is forcing people to drive further for their shopping.
The Coopérative de Doubs was one of the first shops to have one outside, and on offer is everything from comté to morbier for the perfect last-minute cheeseboard.
Cheese dispensers are the latest in a trend of machines selling pizzas, oysters, muscle, charcuterie and fresh bread (Pictured: Cheesemaker Fabien Picard fills his cheese vending machine in a railway station in France)
These vending machines initially took off during the pandemic, because customers could serve themselves without putting on masks and entering shops
Famous Cheeses local to certain regions of France include camembert, roquefort and reblochon (Pictured: Fabien Picard prepares his delivery to fill his cheese vending machine)
Fabien Picard (pictured) said: 'You can just turn the carousel, choose your cheese and pay with a bank card, before picking up your purchase.'
In the eastern Ain departement, Fabian Picard, head of La fromager dairy, said people had been surprised to discover his automated supply of tomme du Jura, comté, and other types from his dispensers on the motorway and in the bust Bourg-en-Bresse station.
He told Agence France-Presse: 'You can just turn the carousel, choose your cheese and pay with a bank card, before picking up your purchase.'
The cheese, which costs a little more than in the shops, is stocked up once a day.
In Varaville, in the costal Calvados departmente of Normandy, a fromagerie is stocking a machine with camambert and liverot.
In the high Alps of Haute-Savoie, a cheesemaker is stocking his 24-hour distributor with reblochon, tomme and raclette, the local specialties.
Mathieu Goguet, joint manager of La Boîte ô Fromages in the Calvados region, said his firm had been making home deliveries during the pandemic.
He told Radio France: 'We realised the people were were delivering to would not do 15km to come and buy at the shop. But they could stop by a dispenser.'
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