The Goodie Monster: The future of health food
If there’s one thing Portlanders do right, it’s making good food available to the masses and they are at it again. This time making vending snacks healthy. And so it is with the new ‘monster’ vending machine on the ground floor of the Goldsmith Blocks in Old Town. Fortuitously named the “Goodie Monster.”
Don’t let the 6ft tall lime green shag, orange-toothed, frog-eyed machine deter you. It evokes a Where the Wind Things Are vibe. I mean seriously, how can you say no to that face? It even wears a button that says, “I <3 human snacks.”
Hungry snackers will be pleased to see offerings that will make them feel good while not gouging their pocket book or adding pounds of flesh to their bodies.
Creator Mark Jacobs and designer Mette Rankin put a variety of snacks into the machines in an effort to help people turn away from junk food without being overbearing in that way that only family members can be. “Do you really want to eat that?”
Goodie Monster is not about making you feel guilty, it’s to help you make good decisions, according to Jacobs in an interview with the Portland Tribune.
The machine includes snacks like Trader Joe’s banana chips, Newman’s Own raisins, Justin’s Maple Almond butter, dried mangos and PopChips, to name a few.
Not surprisingly, though, healthy snacks don’t live up to the State’s standards for schools so don’t expect there to be an influx of machines gobbling up Nabisco’s stake in children’s nutrition. The only monster in the halls will still be that bully hopped up on ten Dr. Peppers.
