Abby here.
I have a warm and fuzzy place in my heart for Chipotle. It’s easy. It’s quick. It’s tasty. And if you wear a costume on Halloween they’ll give you a free burrito. Not that any of this matters considering the closest one to Bozeman is hundreds of miles away.
But just last week I was in Texas, and hit that place up more than once. I try to be a bit more easy going about what we eat when we are out of town, giving myself a break from the constant cooking and cleaning norm.
So when I recently read that Chipotle has begun labeling (on their online menu) which of their ingredients are genetically modified, I was pretty pleased.
Many “health nuts” were pretty outraged to find that they were using GMO foods at all. But seeing I assume most restaurants (fast food to high-end) are serving GMO foods anyways, at least here they are informing us and we have options!
So as expected, we stopped by within 24 hours of touching ground in Dallas.
Not knowing if they would have an ingredient list on hand, I did my homework before hand and looked over THIS on their website. I’m glad I did, because the two nice ladies making my bowl looked at me like I had just spoken to them in Russian when I asked if they knew which ingredients we’re GMO free. (And nothing against the Russians… I just went to Russia when I was 18, and think it is by far the most difficult language ever!)
Here’s where I landed:
I was happy to discover it wasn’t too different than what I usually order.
I started with lettuce and then added lots of black beans, all three types of salsa, a little cheese and a big spoonful of guacamole. I guess you could say it ended up being more of an all veggie salad, but a dang good one.
The biggest thing I missed was their Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette. Oh my… have you tried that stuff? I shouldn’t tell you how amazing it tastes, because the first ingredient on the list is genetically modified soybean oil. Boo!
BUT there is good news… from what I can tell, they have already begun replacing soybean oil with rice bran oil in NYC restaurants as well as other cities. For now, soybean oil is the biggest bummer on their menu, because it shows up in so many things making the whole thing GMO (chicken, steak, fajita vegetables, brown and white rice, etc.). Happy to hear they are working to get rid of it altogether.
Here’s a handy little graphic I found from GMO Free Vegas.
And for the record, just because it’s GMO free doesn’t mean it’s organic. I was, although, happy to discover their black beans, pinto beans, avocados, cilantro and oregano are.
So would I feel good about eating at Chipotle every single day? No.
But can I sort of enjoy it a bit more knowing I can build a bowl GMO free? Yep!
