The Battle of the Burrito

Last week, Chipotle and its crack PR department seized on a golden opportunity to promote the company's brand by hitching a ride on the coattails of the hit new documentary, Food, Inc.

Chipotle sponsored screenings across the country that were made free to the public in a move that, as far as I can tell, is mostly promoting irony.

(By the way, Food Inc. is now playing at the 29th Street Mall in Boulder, so go check it out! If you're not in Boulder, click here to find where it's playing near you.)

This past winter, headlines told of unimaginably brutal conditions on a labor camp in Immokalee, FL where workers were forced to pick tomatoes against their will, had their pay stolen week after week, and were beaten, chained, and locked inside box trucks so that they wouldn't escape overnight. (Take a virtual tour of Immokalee.)

This is where Chipotle gets their tomatoes. And they buy a lot of tomatoes.


After years of uncontested claims of "Food with Integrity," all the while buying tomatoes like any other fast-food giant, Chipotle executives probably figured they could get away with one more glaring contradiction. But this time, at Food, Inc. screenings across the country, Campaign for Fair Food allies rallied, demanding Chipotle show farmworkers some respect and dignity. Below are photos of fair food activists in Baltimore and in Denver, home to Chipotle corporate headquarters.


Director of Food, Inc., Robert Kenner, and co-producer, Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), joined Will Allen (Growing Power), Frances Moore Lappe (Diet for a Small Planet), Raj Patel (Stuffed and Starved), Josh Viertel (President of Slow Food USA), and two dozen other leaders of the sustainable food movement in signing a sharply-worded letter to Chipotle's CEO.

It reads in part:

"We realize that Chipotle has announced that it's paying an extra penny per pound for tomatoes, but we have to ask: What has Chipotle done since that announcement to identify and cultivate growers who are willing to raise their labor standards and pass the penny along to their workers? Your failure to do...hard work in the Florida tomato industry – together with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) – threatens to render your announcement an empty gesture aimed more at public relations damage control than an effort to make real change."

Moviegoers had the opportunity to sign the letter at their showing to help support the Immokalee farmworkers. (Sign it yourself here.)

Now when you hear the hype put out by Chipotle, you'll know the truth behind it.

It's also worth noting here that their burritos are just nasty. Did you know that one Chipotle Chicken Burrito (consisting of rice, pinto beans, cheese, chicken, sour cream, salsa, and a tortilla) contains 1180 calories and 19 grams of saturated fat? That's the same amount of calories and saturated fat as three 6-in. Subway Steak and Cheese subs, not to mention the Chipotle Chicken Burrito contains 2,900 mg. of sodium -- more than the recommended daily intake. They beep when they back up? So will you if you don't lay off the Chipotle.