Chipotle I love you.

I ate chicken yesterday.

Shocking, I know.

Turns out Chipotle advertises on their website that they only use ethically raise chicken in their foods. Since my problem with eating meat centers on the ethical issues involved in factory farming practices, I didn't have a problem chowing down on one of my favorite burritos.

My brother in law made a very wise suggestion this past weekend, saying that instead of telling everyone I'm a vegetarian simply say that I'm boycotting factory farmed meat. People seem to find that less crazy...

Naturally, some of the lawyers with whom I eat lunch every day have tried to find flaws in my argument. They raise some good points:

• How can you trust the website of Chipotle?

There is definitely a trust issue to be dealt with. They're going to spin things so they look good. They cited an outside third party (Humane Animal Producer Society or something along those lines) that certified their producers as ethical. But how can you trust them? It seems plausible that this "objective" third party could easily be a sham organization set up to rubber stamp farms...

My response to this is that

1. Since this is a boycott with the goal of effecting the meat industry by changing my purchasing habits, supporting chipotle is sending a signal (albeit a minuscule one) that they're doing something good. I suppose the attempt by a company to appear ethical is better than companies that don't even try.
2. I haven't been perfectly consistent already, so taking this 'leap of faith' and trusting a company that may be tricking me is no worse that what I'm already doing. I haven't gotten to the point where veganism seems possible (give up cheese and eggs? this is hard enough already).

I look forward to going to Whole Foods, who I've heard carries lots of free-range meats. I'm also feeling pretty good about the sustainability of my little experiment. Free-range meat will be more expensive, and I won't have it every day so meat will remain a small part of my diet.

Also, I'm pumped because a coworker took me up on a bet that he couldn't go completely vegetarian for the next two weeks. Someone to share my pain with!