Chipotle’s “Cultivating Thoughts” Cups, Bags Showcased At Yale’s Rare Book Library

You can now find these cups in Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

You may remember that last year Chipotle began helping customers pass the time while eating at its restaurant by scrawling original texts from famous authors on cups and bags for the Cultivating Thoughts campaign. While most of us just tossed the items when we were finished with our meal, several pieces made their way to the rare book library at Yale.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library added the complete set of literary Chipotle cups and bags to its collection. We can only assume that the library-quality, unusual piece of literature come without remnants of Coke or guac.

“The Yale Collection of American Literature collects American Literature in all its formats and in all media, documenting the ways great American writers reach diverse and unusual audiences beyond standard book publishing,” the library said in a statement.

In fact, the library is already home to things like lapel pins, matchbooks, bumper stickers and other odd times that feature writings from well-known literary minds, the L.A. Times reports.

Cultivating Thoughts was the brainchild of author Jonathan Safran Foer, who found himself bored while eating a meal at Chipotle one day.

Shortly afterward, Foer got in touch with Chipotle CEO Steve Ells to pitch the idea of printing original short stories and essays on throw-away cups and bags.

“I bet a sh**load of people go into your restaurants every day, and I bet some of them have very similar experiences, and even if they didn’t have that negative experience, they could have a positive experience if they had access to some kind of interesting text,” Foer said at the time the campaign began in May 2014.

In all, the musings of Toni Morrison, George Saunders, Malcolm Gladwell, Paolo Coehlo, Michael Lewis, Aziz Ansari, Barbara Kingsolver, Jeffrey Eugenides and more graced the products.

A second round of Cultivating Thoughts rolled out in January of this year featuring famous folks such as Neil Gaiman, Augusten Burroughs, Julia Alvarez, Carlos Ruiz Zafron, and Walter Issacson.

When does fast food belong in the Yale Library? When it’s Chipotle. [The Los Angeles Times]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist