November 16, 2012

Orange juice envy

My first morning in Italy I got an espresso, and noticed how they were making orange juice at the bar. At first I thought it was just at this one cafe. But I started seeing them everywhere. All different methods of operation. Some had a hopper that fed in the oranges. Some were just a hand-squeezer. Some were self-service. I started taking pictures every time I saw one. My family may be disappointed there are no pictures of me in front of monuments, just orange juice machines. You can see all the pictures after the break.

This juicer was found next to my gate at the Rome airport. I got a glass right before boarding my flight. I had to take a second to realize how wonderful this was. I mean, our airport food is so sad and disconnected from reality. And here I was drinking a juice with pulp and seeds. And there was no bragging/advertising, no “fresh” this or that.

I looked up the machine online, looks like it’s a Sicilian brand called Oranfresh. They make a bunch of different products, including vending machines that make OJ from oranges when you put in your coins! What do you think? Should we get one for Clover? Right now we squeeze oranges to make orange juice at HSQ and HUB, but our little machine is nowhere near as serious or as easy to use as this one.

That’s the juice. Notice the pulp and seeds. The newspaper dates this post pretty well, huh?

This one was at a little food truck outside a bus depot in Sicily. You could also buy granitas, wine and beer there.

This was at a little outdoor coffee bar. That woman’s baby was joining her at work.

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