Tuesday, December 21, 2010

CHIPOTLE: Food With Integrity

As part of my cheap-o lifestyle, I bring my own lunch to work.   My lunches always have a lot of variety- sometimes leftovers, salads, almond butter sandwiches, soups.  Always: a piece of fruit.  Everything else is left up to chance. With so much variety in my lunch, I'm rarely even tempted to order food when the rest of my coworkers do.  McDonalds?  NO WAY.  Taco Bell?  No thanks.  Burger King?  Haven't eaten there since 8th grade.  Italian?  Hmmm... tempting, but I brought my lunch, and I want to save my $8.00.  Pizza?  Also tempting.... but I'll save my money.  Chipotle?  YES, double YES.

Yesterday I was offered this wonderful option, and I could not resist.  Chipotle is the one fast food I can eat and feel good about the origins of my food.  According to a statement on their "Food With Integrity" web page, Chipotle supports and sustains family farmers who respect both their land and animals.  Whenever possible, Chipotle uses animals raised without synthetic hormones.  SCORE!  The company also tries to use organic produce whenever possible.  Currently, 40 percent of the beans they use are organic (I wonder which kind- black or pinto?) I truly admire the lengths to which Chipotle goes to respect people, animals, and the environment.  I also respect the deliciousness that is BARBACOA.

The spicy shredded beef is my absolute favorite meat!  I have experimented with many different combinations, but for the best taste I go for a burrito with barbacoa, black beans, corn salsa, tomato salsa, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!  This is the exact burrito I ordered on Monday, and I could not stop thinking about it all morning. Of course, this made the morning last FOREVER.  When 12:10 finally hit, I sent my kids outside and raced to the lounge.  There, sitting in a bag amongst burrito bowls and tacos, sat a shiny silver foil-wrapped burrito with the name "Brenda" written on it in black marker.  Life was good.  I sat down with excitement in my eyes and took my first bite.  Something wasn't right.  Then it registered, and I exclaimed, "THIS IS CHICKEN!"  Chicken.  Flavorless chicken.  My lunch was ruined.  I ate the burrito the whole time thinking, "This next bite with have flavor."  Nope.  It never happened.  Needless to say, I was peeved about this mix up, and I will  think twice before ordering next time.  I can't think of a time I'll ever want to waste $7.00 and 1,200 calories, yet that's exactly what I did yesterday.

What's your favorite Chipotle combination?

1 comment:

  1. Yummmm... and the chicken is not flavorless! I have actually gone back to the chicken, after trying tons of different pregnant combos. And, gone back to the HOT salsa, on the side. Ironically, my favorite burrito at the moment is the same one I ordered that fateful year Chipotle and I met in Lawrence. :) Gotta LOVE CHIPOTLE! Thanks for writing this post for me friend. Haha

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