There's Hope In Fast Food

There was an uplifting article today in the Washington Post. Chipotle Mexican Grill is moving to 100% locally-raised pork for its carnitas burritos in all 700 of its Charlottesville stores. That's nearly 5 million pounds of naturally fed piggy meat a year.

This is a significant milestone for an industry plagued by unsustainable practices and decrepit moral values. I was beginning to doubt that with the USDA's favoritism towards McDonalds lobbying groups that there was any room for sustainable and organic food business models. Ok, so there is certified USDA organic, but it seems like that label can be smacked on almost anything.

Thank God we have Chipotle. The fast growing fast food chain has worked persistently to bring small farms into the distribution circuit, and their decentralized philosophy is helping local go national. They have bold goals of having all of its meat be locally raised in the near future, and they are grabbing organic ingredients as fast as the market will let them.

And their food is uber delicious.