Chipotle's Pinto Beans Are In No Way Vegetarian

There is bacon in them there beans (ChipotleMexicanGrill's flickr).

Vegetarians, you might want to think twice about getting those pinto beans in your fajita burritos from Chipotle. Unless you are a self-loathing bacon fan, that is. Maxim's Seth Porges recently discovered that the fast casual giant cooks its pinto beans in bacon. Naturally, he Tweeted about it. And now, because Chipotle is that kinda chain, the company is promising to change its ways. Oh, and the company's CEO personally called Porges to apologize.

See, Chipotle employees are supposed to warn diners that their beans are made with bacon, but we've certainly never heard such a warning. So now, to make sure that no vegetarians (or Kosher eaters) are ever tricked into devouring the candy of the meats again, the chain's menus are all being redesigned. A rep tells Consumerist that "The menu panels have been redesigned to reflect that change, and the plan is to deliver them to restaurants along with other changes to the menu boards over the next several months." We'd call that a win—though we wonder if any vegetarians are going to get litigious now that the truth it out there.

You can read Porges's tweets and his letter to Chipotle here.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in Food on August 18, 2011 2:23 PM

Comments [rss]

bieber my balls

I almost always order carnitas (pork) with pinto beans and every time I'm warned of the porky nature of the pinto beans even as a regular (most employees know my name) they warn me without even thinking, its supposed to be second nature for them, and if you are a vegetarian you really should be asking questions anyway.

Shautey

This is news? Their website always was very clear what was vegetarian and what was not.

In fact up until a few years ago they said that even the cheese was not vegetaria because they used animal based rennet. They marketed this as only using the good stuff. Since then they switched to cheese which uses vegetarian rennet.

I got so used to their burritos without cheese, I still forgoe the cheese everytime I am there.

anonymous33333

Chipotle has always said their pinto beans were cooked with bacon and they always warn you about it...not sure why this story was even posted....

Erik Tomlin

if you didn't know there was bacon in them, then you're an idiot.

Marisa Rospos

Chipotle employees always warn you that there is bacon in the pinto beans. Just because some random guy found out there was meat in them he feels the need to bring this to everyone's attention? Chipotle shouldn't be apologizing for anything. The buyer should be apologizing to all of us for creating "news" that was only news to him.

Just Meat It

But this is Maxim magazines Seth Porges, only the most influential of all the titty rag media

rachelpincus

The Chipotle on 7th Avenue near West Houston street has always warned me of the presence of meat in the pinto beans.

Callie

Why did the owner apologize? I'm veg and I know I always have to order the boring black beans. It has to be noted somewhere on the menu, doubt I would've known otherwise. And much as I dislike the "assume it has meat" attitude, vegans tend to have a 6th sense when it comes to detecting meat/dairy on a menu. This buyer wasn't paying attention.

souper_crackers

It's not uncommon for beans to have lard or some sort of meat involved in the cooking process. I quit being a vegetarian years ago, but I would have asked if I cared. That's pretty much Vegetarianism 101.

airtech1

"See, Chipotle employees are supposed to warn diners that their beans are made with bacon, but we've certainly never heard such a warning."
@Gothamist:twitter . Sorry, but you need to get out more. I've been to multiple locations of Chipotle here in the City, and every time -- w/o missing a beat -- some HS kid-employee will say: "Our pinto beans have bacon, is that okay??"

Garth Johnston

Okay, well, good for you! I've been to multiple locations and not heard one peep about it.

Also, from what I'm understanding, when employees do warn customers about the bacon they do it for those eating veggie burritos and the like–which would leave the many people who are carnivores who just don't eat pork in the dark. And now they won't be.

AzzTech

If you're kosher or hallal(sp?) or don't like pork, you shouldn't be eating there. You can see that the pork is in close proximity with everything else and they cook pork in the same (washed) pots as everything else.

ceraunograph

The black beans are listed as "vegetarian black beans" and the pinto beans are just "pinto beans." I've been told they have meat in them even when ordering a chicken burrito. If you're so concerned, you should ask before hand, or like, check their website. This is hardly a secret. If your biggest problem in life is that you got some pork residue in your beef burrito, you've got a real tough life.

angry_pickle

Nice to hear people at Maxim venture out of their man caves and discover what everybody else already knew.

Guest

Good to know there's another place to get my RDA of bacon.

Lost In NYC

The pinto beans were never veg. If didn't know that you were never a true veg. The black beans are veg.. are you hipsters living under a rock.grand!

KillNewYork

This is a non story. I am a vegetarian, and the fact that they have bacon in them is clearly posted on the website and the menu differentiates that the black beans are vegetarian.

Kimberly Rohrer

A kind Chipotle employee here in NYC once warned me that the pinto beans were not veggie. I thanked her and haven't ordered them since. Makes sense to warn folks ordering the veggie burrito. But I suppose it's nice that it's going to be on the menu too.
I think this would make a lame lawsuit, unless you directly asked and were misinformed.

morganlevy

I have always, always been informed that Chipotle's pinto beans are not vegetarian, by both Chipotle employees and dozens of other vegans and vegetarians that I know. I feel like this is very well known in the veggie world.

Erin Hadley Ginocchio

I am also not a vegetarian, but love their veggie burritos (free guac, man!), and I was warned every single time I asked for the pinto beans that they were, in fact, prepared with meat products.