So, this is a robot that builds burritos. But before you laugh about this, there’s apparently a noble cause at play, according to creator and NYU grad student Marko Manriquez:
Because the burrito is a mass market consumable, it lends easily as a way for examining and stimulating discussion on various aspects of the food industry including: how and where our food is grown, methods of production, environmental impact, cultural appropriation and perhaps most importantly – what our food means to us. By parodying the humble burrito’s ingredients and methods of production we can shed light on these exogenous factors and interconnected systems surrounding the simple burrito.
Or in other words, ”It’s digital gastronomy for the hungry masses.” Now you can laugh. (ht TechCrunch)
» A hugely profitable firm: Despite the fact that the company (which split from McDonald’s in 2006) had to raise prices at some of its stores, it did really well in its recent earnings announcements, with a 35 percent increase in profits in its most recent quarter, to $62.7 million. The company has managed to keep labor prices down and ramp up its continued growth, despite an audit by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that led to the firing of hundreds of employees in the DC region. Chipotle remains one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the industry, benefitting greatly from its focus on organic ingredients.
Follow ShortFormBlog • Find us on Twitter & Facebook
Interesting Grammys side-story of the night: The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky made a couple of spare comments about Chipotle’s anti-factory-farming ad, which has been online for months but played during tonight’s Grammy Awards. What’s fascinating is the anger Topolsky drew for his animal-rights views and the fact that he didn’t take kindly to the fact that the ad glossed over the fact that Chipotle kills animals. The reaction to Topolsky’s pro-animal-rights comments brought out the trolls on Facebook and Twitter, with one commenter saying, “You are way out of your depth on this one! I’m having steak for dinner just to piss you off…” What do you think on sustainable farming and animal rights? And does the ad make you want to eat at Chipotle because they don’t use factory farming?
Brilliant takedown by Mat Honan of a post on Slate entitled: Chipotle is Apple. Yes, there was an article on Slate on Thursday with that title. And yes, it was ridiculous.
Chipotle is fine. Compared to say, Taco Bell, it’s fantastic. But as Honan points out, if you include some of the best burrito joints in California, Chipotle wouldn’t be in the top 100. It’s still fast food.
Name a smartphone better than the iPhone.
You can’t because most of the other manufactured ones are junk. There are a few other good ones, but there are none made by small shops like the best burritos are. Totally different industries.
Writes Honan:
Finally, we should look at the build quality. As we we said before, the Chipotle burrito essentially ripped off the design of the Mission Burrito. However, in doing so, it got important details wrong. The Mission Burrito is eaten vertically, by standing it on one end, and unwrapping the aluminum foil at the top side as you work your way down. It is flawless. The Chipotle burrito, on the other hand, is typically put together without care or attention by those aforementioned low-paid workers. They typically stuff them so full that the ingredients come bursting out of the side, and it is impossible to eat the burrito vertically, as the good Lord intended burritos to be eaten. Were the iPhone built like a Chipotle burrito, its processor would be on the outside.
In which our boy Matthew Yglesias lets us down by making an absurd comparison.
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
