The other night my friend and I decided to go to one of our favorite places for a quick dinner – Chipotle. I have loved going to Chipotle ever since I was really little. I grew up in a very small town so whenever my family would go somewhere for a basketball or football game I would always beg my mom to go. I even used to say that Mexican was my favorite food because I loved Chipotle so much. Since I started taking Taco Literacy, I have begun to think a lot about the harms of labeling a restaurant as “mexican,” “chinese,” “indian,” etc. when often times it is not an accurate representation of the food that people from those countries eat. In addition, most of the bigger chains serving these foods are not owned by people who are from this country or have it in their heritage.

Currently, I think that I believe that there is nothing wrong with going to a restaurant like Chipotle and enjoying it, because let’s be honest, it is delicious. Now, could I have gotten a more authentic meal at 5burro down the streat, yes, but that does not mean that I am doing something wrong by going to Chipotle. I think that it is a good thing to incorporate foreigh cultures into America through food, and I would be willing to bet that a lot of Americans had their first experience with mexican food at an establishment like Chipotle. Maybe a way we could progress is for these bigger chains to have to advertise that they are not the most accurate representation of the culture of food that they are making. But this does not mean that they don’t respect this culture and that they can’t make delicious food inspired by the food that originated in the culture that is emulating.

Maybe I am looking at this completely wrong, but I figure as long as people keep an open mind and are willing to adapt their mindset as convincing information is placed in front of them then there is no issue in continuing to eat at restaurants like Chipotle.

In the meantime, here is a picture of my bowl: