Recently, while at the drive-thru at my local McDonald’s, I noticed a poster that read, “Kale. Time To Meet A Real-Life Superfood.”

I grew up on fast food, like the Big Mac value meal I was waiting on. Everyone accepted that virtually the entire fast food menu was bad for you. In the 80s and 90s, there were no posters about kale. Heck, no one knew what kale was!

To be fair, while kale is considered by many to be a “superfood,” McDonald’s kale salad bowl, which contains bacon, fried chicken, and croutons, has more fat, calories, cholesterol, and sodium than most of the other items on the menu.

Still, the addition of kale signals how times have changed. It’s becoming the norm for fast food chains to emphasize a food or ingredient generally characterized as healthy. While there remain plenty of bad-for-you items on the menu, an increasing number of customers want healthier (or at least healthier-seeming) options.

Restaurants are responding. Some recent examples:

McDonald’s

McDonald’s has been doing test runs of offering fresh beef at various locations and recently announced it would replace frozen beef patties for fresh ones in its Quarter Pounder burgers by the middle of 2018 at most of its U.S. locations.

Papa John’s

Papa John’s announced a partnership with Green Bean Delivery, an organic home grocery delivery service, to offer all-natural ingredients including freshly sliced Roma tomatoes, green peppers, and mushrooms. The pizza chain is testing these ingredients in the Lexington, Kentucky market through May 21. In addition, Papa John’s began offering an option to purchase any pizza made with gluten-free crust. The gluten-free option is available only in the company’s Los Angeles, Phoenix, St. Louis and Nashville, Tennessee markets.

KFC

KFC says it’s hoping to improve the taste of its chicken filets by switching to filets breaded at the stores from filets that were breaded and frozen offsite before being shipped to the stores.

Starbucks

Starbucks announced that it would offer a gluten-free sandwich this year as well as organic soups, part of its plan to double food sales to nearly $5 billion by 2021.

Chipotle

Chipotle recently announced that its menu now contains only “clean” ingredients after the company removed artificial ingredients from its tortillas.

Panera Bread

Panera has begun labeling its fountain machines with sugar and calorie counts. In January, it said its entire menu was “clean.”

Editor’s Note: The kale salad at McDonald’s isn’t the only unhealthy salad culprit. Check out 10 salads with more fat than a Big Mac.

"Kale? At McDonald’s?! Get Used to It." originally published on The Menuism Dining Blog.