Salads With Purpose

Can a salad be good for you and good for the earth too? Yes it can, thanks to a new rush of salad chains that offer biodegradable packaging. The food is not only delicious but purposeful.

The New York Times Sunday Style section featured a close up of  fast casual chains Sweetgreen and Chop't, written by Jonah Engel Bromwich who writes for the NY Times' Style section explored these  trendy chains that are more in metropolitan areas than in the suburbs, There's also Dig Inn and Just Salads, with the same mission purpose and appeal to young urban hipsters.Another plus is that the chains buy local and organic produce, which helps farmers from local farms.The biggest pull, especially for the eco-conscious is the biodegradable plates and cutlery. At Sweetgreen, each site has a huge bin proclaiming that the company's utensils, plates, napkins and cups are plant based and go into the compost bin with any leftover food. Just Salad has a better idea. They have their food served in reusable , plastic bowls.Its' director of marketing, Stephen Schwartz says that they save over 75,000 pounds of plastic from being thrown out. This is a better bet, especially if the bowls are brought home and saved for leftovers.

How are the salads?It seems that greens are the urban worker's lunch of choice. Many feel that an old fashioned lunch a hamburger or a pizza slice is too heavy and it'll make them feel sluggish. Salad bowls are better. The ingredients are lighter and fit in better in  a schedule where there really are no more hour long lunch breaks. Workers order on  line , pick it up and go back to spreadsheets and clients.The choices are healthy and yet filling. Sweetgreen offers salads and warm bowls - ones with roasted chicken or steelhead  a type of rainbow trout. There are also vegan bowls too, full of curry flavoring and quinoa along with roasted tofu and portobellos. There's also make your own - which is great for both meat eaters and vegetarians alike.Just Salad goes one step further by selling the ever trendy avocado and the new hummus (!) toast, a thick slice of Italian bread slathered with hummus,  roasted tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese. Most have seltzers to drink but Chop't does sell sodas too.

Can a  salad save your diet and the world? Yes, if you go to any of these chains, from Sweetgreen, to Chop't, along with Digg Inn and Just Salad. Try them to not just good about your diet but about what you're contributing to the world.