This summer Translink, the organization that runs basically all the transit in Metro Vancouver, had a sushi vending machine installed at a Coquitlam Skytrain station.
And people kind of lost their minds. Comments on social media were scathing and, in my opinion revealed quite a car-centric point of view.
People asked if the food in the vending machine was refrigerated. Cries of “this isn’t food safe!” Or they questioned the freshness of the sushi in the vending machine.
Many comments such as “yuck! I’d never eat sushi from a vending machine” or “get ready for diarrhea on the skytrain” or, horror of horrors, people will be eating while on transit. Spoiler alert – people already eat and drink while riding transit.
Getting back to my comment about the negativity of having a sushi vending machine at transit stations is “yucky” being an example of a car-centric society, if you drive a car or truck and pull into a gas station or convenience store or a grocery store, or a restaurant and picked up “grab-and-go” food items – like sushi, nobody would question you or the food-safety of your lunch choice.
Nobody questions the right of a car or truck driver being able to pull into a gas station and having access to snacks, including sushi.
And yet if a transit user wants a sushi combo? That’s just weird and probably not food safe.
The facts are – the vending machines are refrigerated. There was food safety considered in the process. And, the sushi is made by Sushi Mori, a local sushi restaurant.
Let’s all just relax a little and see how the sushi vending machine works out. I am going to assume that someone who has knowledge about food safety has been involved in this project.