Burrito Revolution
Adam Turner
Web Administrator
As the recently self-appointed chief connoisseur of campus burrito affairs, I felt obligated to let everyone know what has happened since my article ran in the paper two Fridays ago. My scathing criticism of the Huddle Mart, as well as the protest that ensued, has returned justice to the world. We stormed into the Huddle Friday afternoon, with our signs declaring slogans like "Bring back Little Juan!" and "Why have you taken my soul away?" Little Juan is not back on his shelf, as my group of fifteen protesters demanded, but in his place was placed our new best friend, "El Monterey: Half Pound Beef and Bean burrito." We obviously took our small, determined force and angrily demanded that justice be returned to the Huddle Mart, and we backed management into a corner, and there was much celebrating as they signed the order form to put El Monterey onto the shelf. This was an unforeseen twist, and not a bad one. One fellow burrito rights activist, John [name withheld for fear of reprisal], declared El Monterey to be responsible for making "The bomb burrito."
However, there is a point to this. I was just kidding. There was no revolt in the Huddle Mart. I did write a thing about Little Juan burritos, and I was warmly surprised when I saw a new burrito product on the shelf last night where Little Juan used to be. I would like to think that my article might have inspired the Huddle Mart to purchase frozen burritos for the student populace. Which I would find ironic, because I think many students here would vomit at the notion of eating 65% of your daily fat allowance in one greasy burrito sitting.
What I find somewhat misguided is the Student Farm workers Alliance protest of Taco Bell this past weekend. There is a way to bring about change in the world, and pissing off maybe 16 poor fast food employees is not the best way to evoke change. Granted, the NDSFA did give those who read the article in last Thursday's viewpoint section the option of writing directly to Taco Bell management, which I think is a good way to show your displeasure for a company, if they receive enough letters. Another thing to keep in mind is that it's not like Taco Bell is the only corporation that exploits migrant farm workers. When you walk into the supermarket, do you think that all the produce there was picked by migrant farm workers that make decent wages? Migrants are used to pick produce because employers don't have to pay them substantial wages. Taco Bell isn't concerned with how they get their produce as long as it's cheap and not fully rotten. Taco Bell is concerned with making tacos. Taco Bell needs to learn to be concerned with their produce sources.
The plight of migrant farm workers is truly something to be concerned about. Bringing about a change for them is going to take a little more than spending one Sunday afternoon at Taco Bell making noise and annoying people that just want to get some cheap fast food.
All Inside Stories for Tuesday, April 10, 2001