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Not the same old drive-thru

The meat is raised naturally; the packaging is recycled; the ovens use renewable power. New green fast-food chains are serving up burgers and fries to feel good about.

3) MAKE IT HEALTHY

Chipotle's tortillas' huge - made-as-you-wait beauties - won't help you lose weight. Neither will the major-league portions. But 100 percent of the pork served at Chipotle, along with 80 percent of the chicken and 50 percent of the beef, is raised naturally, boosting management's claim that it serves "food with integrity": edibles raised humanely, without antibiotics or hormones, and by sustainable means.

Burgerville makes no health claims about its burgers, but Tom Mears concedes management is considering adding the option of a smaller patty. Better Burger, which runs three restaurants and a bustling delivery business in Manhattan, already does this, offering its Classic Beef Burger in half-pound portions, as well as a more calorically correct one-third-pound portion. Both versions of the Classic Beef Burger are striking because they look handmade - an unusual find in the fast-food trade. Pret a Manger, a London-based sandwich, salad and soup chain, offers "slim" portions and sandwiches made on half- and full-size baguettes.

But good nutrition is about more than calorie control. Some people think the recent emphasis on low-calorie, low-fat food has actually made us heavier in the past 20 years or so. Maybe it's because these foods are less satisfying and so we eat more of them, or maybe it's because the no-guilt labelling makes it easy to justify eating more than we should.

Pret a Manger is running a campaign with the slogan "Eat with your head." Simon Hargraves, commercial director of Pret, explains, "Basically, it means 'Think about what you're eating before you eat it. Understand food and you'll eat well.'"

Pret a Manger counts on customers who appreciate that its foods are free of genetically modified ingredients. Some menu items are organic, and all are "natural and as free of additives as they can be," says Hargraves. "Sandwiches, salads and wraps are made today and eaten today and don't need all those additives designed to enhance and lengthen shelf life. Natural, fresh food also tastes better."

Pret's customers apparently agree, because the chain serves 500,000 people across Britain every day, as well as thousands more at its U.S. and Hong Kong outposts. In a visit to one of the Manhattan stores, my kids and I noticed that just a few of each type of sandwich were in the cases ready for purchase. Employees buzzed in to replenish them, but only as necessary. A few bites of a baguette sandwich confirmed it - the bread was fresh, not soaked with moisture from the cheese and tomato.

EVOS is a U.S. chain with fast-food outlets in Florida and Nevada - and without a single deep-fryer or grill. "We slow-roast our burgers with hot air and moisture," explains co-founder Dino Lambridis. "This method is healthier and cleaner and avoids the buildup of cancer-causing heterocyclic amines, which occurs when proteins in meat hit high heat."

French "fries" are actually air-baked at EVOS, and Lambridis says they contain 50 to 70 percent less fat than conventional fries. The New York City chain Better Burger also offers air-baked fries that are appealing even to skeptical teens raised on the McDonald's variety. High praise indeed. At Ozone Organics, a small, all-organic fast-food company based in London, Ontario, nutrient-dense sweet potato fries are outselling conventional fries 10 to 1, according to co-founder Scott Kay.

"Our customers ask us all the time about where we get our meat," says Patrick Terry, founder of P. Terry's fast-burger joint in Austin, Texas. "I tell them my wife and I have actually visited the place where we order our beef - Harris Ranch in Fresno, California. We've seen everything there - the feedlot, slaughterhouse, the packing area. We've watched them sanitize their trucks. And I explain how Harris Ranch hires extra meat inspectors so that they're able to check the meat three times more often than the USDA requires."

Terry is also proud of the fact that none other than Eric Schlosser dined at P. Terry's just before the world premiere of the film version of Fast Food Nation, which took place in Austin.

POD, in London's financial district, sells foods that appeal to customers who appreciate traditional British fare. "But instead of basic hot food, our customers get something with a strong health benefit," says founder Tim Hall. POD Food customers order items like oatmeal combined with antioxidant-rich goji berries, which are reputed to enhance sexual function. POD also offers a breakfast sandwich made of baked (not grilled or fried) bacon on brown bread with tomatoes.

Another popular green entry on the fast-food landscape, Pizza Fusion, aims at several distinct customer targets. "We thought we were going after the Whole Foods customer," says co-founder Vaughan Lazar. But the restaurant found a following among expectant couples and parents who want to keep their young children healthy.

Seventy-five percent of the food offered by Pizza Fusion is organic. The expanding chain also offers vegan-friendly, soy-based mozzarella. "And we answered customer requests for gluten-free pizza crusts. I recently had a customer drive three-and-a-half hours for one," says Lazar.

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