Only two weeks left to Double your gift

Last weekend, a few coworkers and I piled into a car and headed to Montana to celebrate the end of Farm Size Matters, a month-long series that just wrapped up here at Grist. But because it is apparently impossible for a certain someone in our vehicle (whose name starts with “E”), to take a long car trip without an order of piping hot McDonald’s fries at the ready, we had to make a quick pit stop at the border of Washington state and Idaho to satisfy her fix. Unsurprisingly, there was not a fresh vegetable to be seen in our order, save for a single flimsy pickle thrown haphazardly across my Dollar Menu burger.

I admit, it was decidedly very un-Grist of us to have stopped at Mickey D’s. But before you disown us for relishing each and every bite of that cheap industrialized meal, take solace in this: McDonald’s is now serving kale! That makes our consciences a little clearer, right?

NPR has the story:

Just a few months ago McDonald’s was showing no love for kale. In a TV ad promoting the beefiness of the Big Mac, the chain poked fun at the leafy green and other vegetarian fare: “You can’t get juiciness like this from soy or quinoa,” a low voice quips as the camera focuses on a juicy burger. “Nor will it ever be kale.” But the chain is now showing it some affection. McDonald’s has announced that it’s testing a new breakfast bowl that blends kale and spinach with turkey sausage and egg whites. McDonald’s spokeswoman Lisa McComb says, the bowls are “freshly prepared.”

In a world of mystery-meat nuggets and fried bricks called hashbrowns, adding kale to the menu at McDonald’s seems like a desperate attempt to help shed the company’s bad rep. (It’s been working hard to do just that recently.) As NPR also reported last December, sales at McDonald’s haven’t been faring too well as of late due in part to some pretty publicized scandals, like that time when one of their Chinese suppliers sold expired meat. Just nine locations throughout southern California feature the new breakfast bowls for now. But honestly, who wants to eat kale from McDonald’s though? I think I’d still prefer an Egg McMuffin to their version of the leafy stuff.