C and I have a debate going about Subway. Actually, it’s not so much a debate as him saying that he kinda likes eating there sometimes and me curling into the fetal position with my thumbs jammed into my ears screaming “NO NO NO DON’T MAKE ME” and generally making myself look like an idiot or a five-year-old child.

I used to really enjoy Subway as a kid, and it was kind of a special treat when we went there instead of Taco Bell. Hoo boy. At some point (high school? College?) my attitude, or tastes, changed, and I can hardly stand to eat there anymore. To me the bread tastes like mush and if the toppings aren’t stale you’ve won the lottery. (There’s also not much there for an aspiring vegetarian like me; last week in Subway I tried to get a “veggie patty” and was told that the Subway I was currently standing in didn’t carry ‘em. Does anyone know how ubiquitous, or not, these things are?)

Anyway, after our “debate” when my thumbs came out of my ears, C said something to the effect of, “You’ve got to at least respect them for encouraging healthy eating.”

And I wonder: do they? Or are they just responding to market forces, like when McDonald’s started offering salads (or “salads” as they look nothing like a salad I’d ever (want to) eat)?

Pro Con
Jared. Jared is a great marketing stunt / publicity tool.
They really do have seven subs with less than six grams of fat, and I can’t remember a time, even pre-Jared, that these weren’t on the menu and weren’t promoted as such. I mean, even in the 90s I think they were advertising their health options, and McDonalds definitely didn’t have salad and apple slices on the menu back then. Nobody actually goes in and orders a six-inch veggie delite with no cheese or mayo (unless you’re me, which is what I ordered last week). You could hit 1000+ calories easily with a footlong sandwich, even if you got tuna, the most innocuous of toppings. A footlong meatball marinara (which I used to gleefully consume in my earlier years) gives me the willies. So while you can eat fairly healthy at Subway, you can also totally stuff your face. Which is great, because that’s democracy at work. But is Subway to be lauded?
They give out toys in their kids meals that are usually about being active (stopwatches, water bottles, sweatbands) or saving the earth. Looks like their current promotion is a reusable lunch sack, co-branded with the Smithsonian, which is AWESOME. There is no con to this pro. Any fast food company that gives out reusable lunch bags instead of plastic crap that becomes bird toys (I had a friend who gave all her Happy Meal loot to her pet macaw) is awesome.


Okay, so I really don’t know what we’ve decided here, except that I would probably brave that mushy bread for a couple of those bags. What do we think – does Subway “care” or are they riding the wave?

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