Two Big Reasons We Could Do Without Another Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A, the nation’s largest chicken-only fast food chain, has been expanding in recent years, and Angelinos have been pretty pumped about the chain’s newest location in our sunny city. Aside from the fact that fast food in general has nutritionally compromised food and a great knack for disregarding animal welfare, there are two additional reasons I believe this town could do without Chick-fil-A in particular. Read on to learn what you may not know about this fast food chain.
1) MSG
Go to Chick-fil-A’s website and you’ll find the first sentence on its “Our Ingredients” page stating: Lots of people wonder why our food tastes so good. The secret is simple: fresh ingredients. That’s interesting. If you count monosodium glutamate as a fresh ingredient, then yes, that answer is perfectly accurate. But the truth is, almost every single food on the chain’s menu has MSG in it. The Classic Chick-fil-A Sandwich, Chicken Nuggets, Biscuit and Gravy, Chick-n-Strips… in fact, the only foods that seem to be missing MSG are those inherently meatless, like the Oatmeal or Milkshake (which instead has something called “Icedream”… don’t even ask). Monosodium glutamate has been shown to cause a myriad of health complaints and disorders, ranging from migraine headache, asthma, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, disorientation and depression… to the more extreme cases of neurological damage (see our MSG article to learn more about this potentially dangerous food additive).
2) ANTI-GAY & OTHER DISCRIMINATORY PRACTISES
Just this past week in Los Angeles,protestors congregated outsideof the Hollywood location to speak out against Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay policies, as well as its heavy monetary contributions to anti-gay organizations. Chik-fil-A has been cited by numerous media outlets as being discriminatory against values that don’t fit into the company’s Christian model. Among the number of complaint against the company are citations of discriminating its own employees for not being married, for not wanting to be closed on Sunday, and for not participating in group employee prayer days. If you’re interested in learning more about the discriminatory accusations against Chick-fil-A, Forbes covered the company in a great piece called “The Cult of Chick-fil-A.” Regardless of your personal religious beliefs, it doesn’t seem appropriate for a company such as Chik-fil-A to discriminate against others.
Angelinos may be thrilled to tears that Chick-fil-A has expanded its breadth into our city, but frankly, I’m over it before it’s even begun.
Image: j.reed
