By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS
VRG Research Director

As of late 2011, Chipotle Mexican Grill® is offering a brown cilantro-lime rice option at all of its restaurant locations. The VRG was informed by a Chipotle® customer service representative that the brown rice is a "vegan friendly option as it does not contain animal-based ingredients."

We also received confirmation that select Chipotle® restaurants are testing a new product called Garden Blend™. A senior staff member at Chipotle® told us that Garden Blend™ is "a vegan offering… the recipe was worked over between us and the folks at Gardein™." According to the Gardein™ website, Garden Blend™ is a "vegan blend of plant proteins, grains and vegetables marinated in our chipotle adobo, then grilled."

As of February 2012, Garden Blend™ is available at four Chipotle® locations:

• Chelsea West in New York City
• DuPont Circle in Washington, DC
• Alameda and Logan in Denver
• 9th and Pearl in Boulder, CO.

The contents of this article, our website, and our other publications, including the Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company employees or company statements. Information does change and mistakes are always possible. Please use your own best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. Further research or confirmation may be warranted.

For more information on fast food and quick service chains, visit http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.htm

For all kinds of vegetarian and vegan information, please subscribe to our free enewsletter: http://www.vrg.org/vrgnews

There are many ways to stay connected to The Vegetarian Resource Group!

Get our blog delivered right to your inbox: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheVRGBlog

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/VegResourceGrp

And like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thevegetarianresourcegroup

To support VRG research, donate at: https://www.vrg.org/donate