Chick-fil-A’s food isn’t good and they promote a toxic environment.
Last year, when NDSU announced that they were putting in a Chick-fil-A on campus, it was met with much excitement. However, there were also students who were not thrilled. Chick-fil-A is one of the most popular fast food places in the United States. So much so, in fact, that the location on 13th Ave in Fargo always has cars wrapped around the building filled with hungry chicken-loving customers. While this is all great for the company, I personally find the restaurant as a whole to be overrated and extremely toxic.
I’ve eaten at Chick-fil-A about five times now my whole life and every time I was expecting amazing food just to be left thinking to myself, “Oh this is it?” The chicken isn’t even seasoned! I’ve also had chicken that was dry or watery. There just doesn’t seem to be any consistency with their quality. The chicken is mediocre at best. It’s not the worst I’ve ever had but it’s also not worth the hype at all. When asked, a fellow college student made this comment about the food: “It tastes like they soak their food in pure acid.” This is a strong opinion that honestly I could understand. You’re paying $12 for “acidic” chicken.
What about the waffle fries? Everyone raves about them. To me, they just taste like bland potatoes. McDonald’s fries are more enjoyable than Chick-fil-A’s. My assumption is that people think their waffle fries are good because of their shape. Waffle fries are a unique shape for a fast food restaurant, but just because they have a cool shape does not mean they actually taste good. I personally think that their shape is to mask their blandness.
Beyond just the food, the first thing I noticed when going to the restaurant was that they use styrofoam cups for their sodas. This is honestly the worst material you could use for food or drink products. Firstly, styrofoam is anti-environmental. When thrown away, styrofoam does not degrade over time. It could be sitting on our earth, in a landfill, for hundreds of years. The organization Toxic Free Future explains that styrofoam contains a chemical called polystyrene, which can break down into microplastics that can spread everywhere and even contaminate water. Chick-fil-A’s cups contaminate our earth and the water we drink.
This same process can actually harm your own body. The microplastics can break down in your own body and cause various health problems including nervous system problems, vision and hearing loss, and impaired memory and concentration. Styrofoam has even been linked to cancer. While the chance of these things is very low, is it still worth risking just to drink some soda? Most restaurants have moved away from using styrofoam because of these risks, so it would be nice if Chick-fil-A followed suit.
Not only are their products toxic, but Chick-fil-A also has a very harmful history with the LGBTQ+ community. One student I spoke with calls the restaurant “homophobic chicken.” Since almost the beginning of Chick-fil-A, they have actively supported anti-LGBTQ+ organizations. According to The Advocate, Chick-fil-A donated over $1.7 million dollars to many organizations that actively oppose LGBTQ+ rights in 2009. In 2019, Chick-fil-A ceased supporting these same organizations and started donating to other organizations, but the damage has already been done.
Chick-fil-A’s popularity is a mystery to me. It doesn’t have that great of food and they generally just bring toxicity into the environment and community. While I know that people will continue to eat at Chick-fil-A and that’s completely within their rights, I will be taking my business elsewhere.