Audio By Carbonatix
Chipotle Mexican Grill is everywhere — on street corners and in the news. Yesterday the company announced that its fourth quarter earnings rose 52 percent. Bloomberg Business just published “The Definitive Oral History of Chipotle,” a fascinating look at the $22 billion burrito business that Steve Ells started in a former Dolly Madison in the University of Denver area — all through the words of those involved. And speaking of words, the company and author Jonathan Safran Foer just released a second round of the “Cultivating Thought” series, which puts literary excerpts on the side of Chipotle cups — none of those thoughts from Mexican authors, despite the fact that Chipotle bills itself as a “Mexican grill.”
See also: Chipotle Releases Second “Cultivating Thought” Series, Still no Mexican Writers
Says Ryan:
Is there some sort of obligation simply because they serve tortillas? The misguided Social Justice Warrior schtick is so hilarious.
Says Rob:
Guacamole is cultural appropriation? Wouldn’t putting Mexican authors on soda cups truly be cultural appropriation?
But here’s the word from Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican:
But the fact remains: When curating author Jonathan Safran Foer had another chance to expose hipster America to Chicano or Mexican authors, he chose not to. And the question must be asked: Why? How rarefied is Safran Foer’s world that he couldn’t find a single Mexi author to contribute a couple of hundred words?
Read Arellano’s complete piece here, and see many more comments here.