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Chipotle and the Cult of Secular-Kosher
Is it important to you that the coffee you drink be fair trade and shade-grown? That the grapes from which your wine is made be locally-sourced? That the food you eat contain not a whiff of genetically-engineered ingredients? Welcome to the world of secular-kosher, where Judaism’s ancient dietary code for ethical eating is discarded in favor of a New Age preoccupation with feeling good about yourself and a healthy dollop of anti-Big Ag posturing.
The embodiment of secular kosher is Chipotle, which, in 2015, would seem to be hell-bent on poisoning as many of its customers as possible: a norovirus outbreak in California over the summer and another in Boston earlier this month; several cases of salmonella poisoning in Minnesota; an outbreak of E. coli in the Pacific Northwest. All three pathogens are unrelated. States which have reported food poisoning from eating at Chipotle read like a particularly grueling NBA road trip: Illinois (1), New York (1), Ohio (3), Minnesota (2), California (3) Pennsylvania (2). Bastions of progressivism Oregon (13) and Washington (27) lead the the list. The Center for Disease Control has been working overtime keeping score. As of December 18, 2015, 53 people have been infected with the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26 bacteria.
Food with integrity.
Virtually all of Chipotle’s marketing reeks of moral exhibitionism. Far removed from the pedestrian aim of providing moderately healthy food which is tasty and safe, Chipotle would have you believe that “With every burrito we roll or bowl we fill, we’re working to cultivate a better world.”
The “better world” which Chipotle purports to strive for in its slogan places a premium on happy animals at the price of increased likelihood of poisoning people. When it says its meats are raised “responsibly” it’s meant to assuage the conscience of its agriculturally-illiterate customer base, not to reassure the rest of us that the Chipotle experience is as safe as, say, Burger King. But don’t take my word for it: its most recent annual report contained this gem: “We may be at higher risk for foodborn illness outbreaks than some of our competitors due to our use of fresh produce and meats rather than frozen and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation.”
How’s that for a New Age slogan?
Chipotle has as much a knack for curious marketing as it does for food-born illness. Below are some pearls of wisdom Chipotle serves up fresh to its customers from such intellectual trendsetters such as Judd Apatow, Sarah Silverman and Toni Morrison.
It’s hard not to take a little pleasure in the self-induced struggles Chipotle, a company whose moral vanity represents a seamless convergence of both New Age and hippie values. According to an excellent article Henry Miller at Forbes — Chipotle: The Long Defeat Of Doing Nothing Well — the primary obstacle for Chipotle is overcoming its leap of faith that providing locally sourced, natural, and additive-free food can be scaled to work on a magnitude spanning an entire continent in which the distribution chain isn’t measured in minutes.
Until such a time that Chipotle proves it can overcome this obstacle, you’re probably safer eating at Sambo’s.
Again, it’s not the cooked foods that are causing this, it’s the uncooked foods. Fresh tomato salsa and/or lettuce, in other words. I’m pretty sure most of the restaurants in the country serve salads.
Again, it’s the foods “produced by modern conventional agricultural technologies” that are causing the problems here. It has nothing to do with Chipotle’s values.
Hence blaming it on Chipotle’s values is a straw-man argument, since they’re not the cause.
Here’s an article that has the most detail I’ve seen about this:
“Inside Chipotle’s Contamination Crisis”
Chipotle uses the same suppliers that lots of other restaurant companies use. “Organic” is only 10% of their supply at peak season.
Thanks for the correction. I thought there was no national chain that sold kosher meat (although I knew there were national chains like Costco that sold kosher meat in selected stores, i.e., in heavily Jewish markets).
See, that’s basically how I feel about Chic-fil-A. But it’s been a while since I’ve eaten there.
Fair enough—and I’ve never eaten at Chic-fil-A—but the good food movement is not a left-wing phenomenon. Whole Foods, for instance, has a founder who’s both a vegan—horrors!—and an arch-Libertarian. Much to the dismay of many of his customers. Joel Salatin, who’s a darling of the “leftist” local food movement is a Conservative/Libertarian Christian.
The industrial food movement that many on this thread seem to be holding up as the best way to produce foods was in whole a project of Progressivism. While FDR & Co. genuinely had concern for the family farm, the economics of the regulatory project doomed it, all while they attempted to propagandize the farmers to be good little Progressives.
By the time Nixon—a Progressive Republican par excellence—came along the move to stomp out the small land-holders who were the foundation of Jefferson’s Conservative vision for America was in full swing: the motto of Nixon’s agricultural program was “Get big or get out”.
True!
I really like Whole Foods — and Mackey is quite good on Free markets and employment — but it’s a shame about all the homeopathic stuff they sell.
Many families are very grateful that they can find remedies there. There isn’t any other national chain carrying them in any significant variety (although some other chains have started carrying the most common remedies). I’d say it’s a shame not every drugstore carries the full range. I generally prefer maximum consumer choice when it comes to medical care.
But what would be the appropriate position in your view? Are businessmen not supposed to express any political views or take any political action? I’m not sure I understand where you land here.
Folks should be able to sell and buy the stuff to their hearts’ delight. But manufacturers should be honest about what they’re selling and not misrepresent their products’ efficacy.
It’s entirely possible that the burrito was invented here.
Wikipedia:
I wasn’t clear there.
I took KP to be saying that folks’ endorsements are sometimes less about the product than about the political issue surrounding it (i.e., folks say they love Chipotle, but really on kinda like it but approve of their ethics).
My comment was I’ve wondered whether something similar is going on with Chic-Fil-A, as I don’t actually recall it being as great as many people have said it is (especially in the context of the SSM stuff). Then again, it’s been a while since I’ve had it and I could well be remembering how it tasted.
I’d agree with that, certainly.
But when it comes to misrepresentation, the biggest offenders are the drug manufacturers – well, second-biggest: the FDA is the single biggest offender. As for homeopathy, I and many others can attest to its efficacy – but it doesn’t work like a drug and shouldn’t be expected to. It’s a different medical approach.
Thanks for the explanation. I imagine you’re right.
He’s a proper capitalist. I saw him speak in NYC a while ago, and he explained that he originally started a vegan market, and discovered that he had too few customers to make it a viable business. So he sells the stuff that his customers want to buy, even if he doesn’t agree with it.
(I don’t know his views on homeopathy, just those on meat, but I agree with your implicit criticism that homeopathy is hogwash.)
You should ask Thomas Sowell his view on homeopathy.
No, don’t. He’s elderly, and might die laughing…
Now, now, be respectful of Mr. Sowell, who, in any case, wears his age with dignity.
I support Mr. Sowell for president, not to be my doctor. And as president he would defend the right to property and freedom of commerce, and undermine if not abolish the FDA and numerous tyrannical regulations and statutes, which means the market for medicines wouldn’t be fettered in the thousand ways it is today.
Unlike the left, Mr. Sowell does not believe in forcing his own medical advice on the rest of us.
LOL. Who forced medical advice on you? If you want to take homeopathic medications, knock yourself out.
I’d always hoped Sowell would be our first black president…