Au Dégoûtant Pain

I like to be prepared.  I'm a planner - it comforts my mind to be proactive, and have some semblance idea of what options are available ahead of time.   I don't have to lock in every detail, but knowing a little about what lies ahead around the next turn helps me to make more informed, more enjoyable choices.

So as I am planning ahead for an upcoming business trip where I'll be traveling through the Philadelphia airport, going from the large planed Terminal B to the small express planed Terminal F with a (theoretical) 3 hour evening layover, I wanted to see what possible delicious food might be available in said airport.  "Au Bon Pain" has several locations throughout the PHL airport - other than the "Pain" (bread) part, that sounded yummy.  I've eaten at A.B.Ps in years past elsewhere, when I didn't used to care about the quality of food I was eating quite so much.  They even have a convenient website (link here) that provides menu ingredients (link here).  How very savvy of them to provide such detailed info... until you read the actual ingredients... ugh!  A "simple" Garden Salad:

INGREDIENTS: Salad Blend (Romaine Lettuce, Field Greens), Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Carrots, Croutons [Contains any or all of the following: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Vegetable Oil (Canola and Olive Oil), May contain 2 percent or less of: Garlic, Dehydrated Potatoes (Potatoes, Mono- and Di-glycerides, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Citric Acid added as a preservative),Yeast, Salt, Dough Conditioners (Soy Flour, Ethoxylated Mono-and Di-glycerides, Calcium Sulfate, Silica, DATEM, Enzymes, Potassium Iodate, Ammonium Chloride, Ascorbic Acid, L-Cysteine, Azodicarbonamide, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate), Buttermilk Powder, Parsley, Sugar, Whole Wheat Flour, Bread Base (Rye Sour, Wheat Sour, Wheat Flour, Fumaric Acid, Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid), Natural Oil Blend (Palm Fruit, Soybean, Canola Seed and Olive Oils), Wheat Gluten, Deactivated Yeast, Rosemary, Malt Blend (Malted Barley, Wheat Flour, Dextrose), Molasses, Stabilizers (Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum), Soy Lecithin].

Wh.. wh.. wh.. why????? Why can't they just have a list of actual ingredients consisting of "Salad Blend (Romaine Lettuce, Field Greens), Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Carrots".  Maybe, just maybe, all that disgusting cr*p listed after "Carrots" is in the croutons, which I'd pick out of the salad anyway, but then what dressing (if any) does an Au Bon Pain salad have on it?   Ew!  EW!  EWWWW!!  The "GRILLED CHICKEN CAESAR ASIAGO" sounded delicious, until those ingredients were revealed:

INGREDIENTS: Romaine Lettuce, Chicken (Boneless Chicken Breast Meat, Water, Isolated Soy Protein, Salt), Asiago Cheese [Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes, Powdered Cellulose (to prevent caking), Natamycin (to protect flavor)], Croutons [Contains any or all of the following: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Vegetable Oil (Canola and Olive Oil), May contain 2 percent or less of: Garlic, Dehydrated Potatoes (Potatoes, Mono- and Di-glycerides, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Citric Acid added as a preservative), Yeast, Salt, Dough Conditioners (Soy Flour, Ethoxylated Mono-and Di-glycerides, Calcium Sulfate, Silica, DATEM, Enzymes, Potassium Iodate, Ammonium Chloride, Ascorbic Acid, L-Cysteine, Azodicarbonamide, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate), Buttermilk Powder, Parsley, Sugar, Whole Wheat Flour, Bread Base (Rye Sour, Wheat Sour, Wheat Flour, Fumaric Acid, Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid), Natural Oil Blend (Palm Fruit, Soybean, Canola Seed and Olive Oils), Wheat Gluten, Deactivated Yeast, Rosemary, Malt Blend (Malted Barley, Wheat Flour, Dextrose), Molasses, Stabilizers (Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum), Soy Lecithin].

Why soy protein?  And what's wrong with a little caking?   I'd bet with a 3 sigma confidence level that the "boneless chicken breast meat" was raised in a light-less, fecal-filled, forced air-flow, 10,000 or more de-beaked hens, nasty chicken "coop", who were raised a diet of antibiotics, chicken sh*t, growth hormone, and ground up chicken parts.  A far cry from the organic poultry I try to source here at home.  And for croutons, I used to make croutons when I was in High School at my job at Wicker Park.  It was simple.  You take old bread, and let it get slightly stale, then chop it up into cubes, and let it get more stale.  Add natural seasonings (not all the synthetic garbage listed above).  Viola, croutons, sans all the chemistry.  And the croutons we made kept, for weeks and weeks, in the walk in fridge.  They're croutons after all, they're already stale!

Looks like I'll be eating the nuts and dried fruits that I'll have in my carry-on while in the Philly airport.  Unless someone can recommend a good cheese steak in the PHL airport beyond security?