Writer Jonathan Safran Foer was devouring a Chipotle burrito when he realized he “wanted to die with frustration.” Without proper reading material on deck, the Eating Animals author and noted vegetarian was struck by the most marvelous of ideas: to fuse the carnitas-busting burrito chain with the literary world.

Thus, Cultivating Thought was born into the industry of fast food marketing. Recruiting 9 other lauded writers, from Judd Apatow to Toni Morrison, Foer set upon gifting fans of the Chipotle brand with cups and bags covered in short stories and essays.

“That having been said, I got to know quite a bit about the company, not in the process of doing this, but in the process of Eating Animals,” the author told VF Daily. “Chipotle was pointed to quite often, as a model of what scaling good practices might look like. The truth is, that’s not really why I did this. I mean, I wouldn’t have done it if it was for another company like a McDonald’s, but what interested me is 800,000 Americans of extremely diverse backgrounds having access to good writing. A lot of those people don’t have access to libraries, or bookstores. Something felt very democratic and good about this.”

Peek a story by Judd Apatow below that you can read your next to-go order.

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TWO MINUTES OF RAMBLING WISDOM

by JUDD APATOW

When I was in high school there were 500 people in my graduating class. Out of those 500 people I had two best friends and five other real friends. So I had a true connection with seven people and did not have a true connection with 493 people. Now I create stories and hope that 500 out of 500 people will appreciate the work. That is impossible. I don’t love most things I see or listen to, why should they? The truth is I should be happy with seven people being touched or amused by my work. I think it is okay to accept the fact that most people won’t get you. We don’t need to like each other so much. We need to be kind and respect each other.

Don’t be a jerk. Try to love everyone. Give more than you take. And do it despite the fact that you only really like about seven out of 500 people.

Every day I live by only one rule, be a good guy. I am proud of the fact that for the most part I have tried to make the world a better place in small and large ways. I am even more proud of the fact that for the most part I have not ruined the world. I haven’t committed any acts of extreme violence. I don’t litter. I don’t hunt endangered species for sport. I support politicians who appear to want to make the lives of the less fortunate better and who are concerned about our environment. Most of them still make it worse a fair amount of the time, but they are giving it their best shot. I think that is all we can do–give it our best shot. Don’t be a jerk. Try to love everyone. Give more than you take. And do it despite the fact that you only really like about seven out of 500 people. Being cool to the other 493 people is a great thing to do because you want those same 493 people to not give you a hard time when you run into them while ordering your burrito at Chipotle or on an airplane or during an international conflict or just a potential road rage incident. Life will be better for all of us if we want all 500 to be happy.

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