Here is another recommendation from a co-worker so I have to give him credit straight off. The Downtown Crossing area in Boston seems to be the center of responsible and source transparent eateries. Within a block there is Clover Food Labs, B good, Luke’s Lobster and Sweet Green all of which operate under the philosophy of being fully transparent with their ingredients and focusing on clean food. All are chains and two have apps from which you can order ahead (B good and Sweet Green). Why are there so many of these types of restaurants popping up here? Is it because of the concentration of millennials that work in the city? I am far from a millennial (about 20 years past) but maybe going through a mid-life crisis where I am concerned with the food that I have put in my body the last 40+ years. Wonder if this group is contributing?
Sweet Green really just focuses on two main dishes – warm bowls and cold salads made with fresh vegetables and protein if you like. The website looks beautiful – really makes you want to eat the food! There is a lot of information on their values and commitment to connecting with the source. This place is busy – can be a line out the door – should use the app during lunch hour. There is a range of suggested bowls (curry chickpea – roasted chicken, hot chickpeas, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, raisins, cilantro, toasted almonds, warm quinoa, organic baby spinach, curry yogurt dressing) and salads (kale ceasar – shredded kale, chopped romaine, parmesan crisp, shaved parmesan, roasted chicken, tomatoes, fresh lime squeeze, caesar dressing) or you can make your own. All the produce is right there in front of you and looks great. There are also vegan and vegetarian options. At the start of the line is a huge board which lists all the ingredients and the farm/source down to the freshly squeezed lime juice and raisins. It’s an amazing display of transparency for sure and apparently they update it every day. I decided to go for the Curry Chickpea bowl with chickpeas from Timeless Seed – Organic and chicken from Allen Farms. You can add or subtract ingredients as you walk along the line and check them out. The bowl tasted delicious and I couldn’t wait to try out some of the others – next time I will use the app.
Under the Food Ethos section of the website they have a paragraph on animal welfare. Here they mention that: “In each region we source from, we demand high sustainability and animal safety standards. These include:
- Chicken: GAP Step 2 and Certified Humane
- Pork: GAP Step 1
- Eggs: Cage free and certified organic
- Steelhead: Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Green Rated”
Both their chicken and pork have a quoted GAP Step which deserves some explanation. From the GAP website:
“Founded in 2008, Global Animal Partnership (GAP) is a non-profit organization made up of farmers, scientists, retailers, manufacturers, and animal advocates, all collaborating with a common purpose: improving farm animal welfare. GAP is making a difference by creating and managing a comprehensive 5-Step® Welfare Rating Program for farm animals, where farms & ranches are audited every 15 months by an independent third-party. Through our 5-Step® Rating Program and labeled product program, producers and consumers can choose to support a program that continuously improves the lives of farm animals step by step.”
There is a ton of information on the website – check it out if you want to know more. They do a great job explaining what each step means in terms of the animal’s lifestyle – diet, living conditions etc. If we look at chickens specifically – Step 1 includes no cages, but no access to outdoors through to Step 5 involves entire life on farm and pastured. Sweet Green says their chicken is Step 2 which is an enriched indoor environment but no access to outdoors and not pastured. Considerably better than life on a Factory Farm but still not the natural outdoors living chicken lifestyle. A search for Allen Farm, Delaware (from the chalkboard above) comes up with an Allen Harim chicken farm in Delaware. There is a lot of information on this site explaining how they raise their chickens – no sign of cages and plenty of mentions of no antibiotics ever and 100% vegetarian fed. But I got to say the videos of all those chickens in those huge sheds doesn’t make me feel confident that this chicken is having a great life. A whole lot better than crammed in a cage don’t get me wrong. Definitely the Step 2 statement on the Sweet Green website is accurate. Also Harim Allen is mentioned on the GAP website as being Step 2 as well so everything seems to match up.
The other animal protein available is Steelhead Trout from which I had not heard of before. The chalkboard mentioned this was sourced from Pacific Seafoods and is quoted on the website as being Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Green Rated. A quick search shows that this is the case and this Steelhead is farm raised on the Columbia River.
Sweetgreen has to be commended on their transparency of the sourcing of their ingredients which is at a level not seen before. I don’t feel real great about the chickens being housed inside those huge sheds at Harim Allen Farms (but no cages) but feel a lot better about the source of the Steelhead trout and vegetables. Definitely going back but will stick to the vegetables and fish.
The Evolution of a Selective Flexitarian 
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