Chipotle introduced its new Vegan Sofritas burrito to a larger market yesterday to much fanfare from vegans and curious carnivores alike. Considering the rising popularity of alternative eating practices, America’s fastest growing fast-food chain felt it was necessary to hop on the veg train and bring in some of the substantial profits from providing assiduous vegetarian options.
Foodies on the West Coast — where Chipotle unveiled its newest selection, initially — reviewed the burrito, which features organic tofu from much-lauded, artisan producer Hodo Soy, and most reviews have been ambivalent at best.
Chipotle’s Facebook provides a link to a Bay Area-based review. In the review, Mary Ladd reports that the burrito tasted and smelled “like a scrambled breakfast burrito that happens to sop up hot sauce well.” This sentiment was echoed by self-described Chipotle-hater Winston Ross of The Daily Beast, who also thought the soy in the burrito was akin to scrambled eggs and went on to say that the burrito is as “meh” as the rest of Chipotle’s meaty menu:
Meh. Granted, the first bite of any burrito tends to include a disproportionate helping of tortilla, for reasons I shouldn’t have to explain to you, but it was dry and bland and boring, and I could not tell what was Sofritas bouncing around between my molars and what was shredded lettuce.
Irrespective of those reviewers take on Chipotle’s apparently newest “breakfast burrito,” it seems that the fast-food joint that brags about too small parking lots and long lines knows that Americans are always looking for something new and cheap to eat — and if it comes in the form of a phallus, all the more excited we get over it.
According to San Francisco Weekly, Sofritas is the spice blend used to season the shredded tofu, and the dishes are braised with chipotle chilies, roasted poblano peppers, and a blend of aromatic spices. In Spanish cuisine, sofrito is created via a sauté of garlic, onion, peppers and tomatoes. The sofritas tofu is made in Oakland and is free of any GMOs.
That!!! I will not touch!!
the tofu may be non-gmo, as the article states, but the oils to make it… I’d ask the manager in store just to make sure.