Forget “Would you like fries with that?” There’s now a vending machine — a vending machine! — that makes freshly prepared french fries the main event, deep-frying them right on the spot and dispensing them piping hot. It's a fry lover's dream come true.

The machine is the brainchild of students and developers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The university’s website boasts that the vending machine is “soundless, odour free and safe” — and, judging from a video showing the machine in action, it couldn’t be easier to use.

You just pop a coin into the slot, choose your condiment (if you prefer mayonnaise, ketchup or curry, the machine has you covered), wait about 110 seconds, and — voila! — out comes a substantial serving of french fries ready to snag and scarf down with gusto. (A fork and salt are supplied separately.)

At the moment, alas, this ingenious invention (why didn’t anyone think of it before?) exists only in prototype, Eater notes, but a search for strategic partners to produce and distribute the machines internationally is already underway. Start saving those quarters.