In a good independent sandwich shop, you'll get a much better sandwich, with higher quality bread, and meat, but the meat is still going to be processed. Salami, ham, prosciutto, bacon, mortadella, pastrami, sausage, are all processed meats by definition. Most chicken and turkey will be processed/cured/flavored as well. You might occasionally find a sandwich shop that has a whole roast turkey or pig they'll slice, but it is uncommon.
When I say 'processed', I mean meat like ham or beef - stuff that I would expect to be real meat, but instead it's sliced from what I guess you could call a mold of reformed scraps. I have no real problem with it but it struck me as unusual given how much sandwich shops charge for their food.
Processing meat means curing, salting, smoking, etc. Everything except molding from scraps. A lot of processed meat is also molded from scraps, but that's not what makes it processed.
Molding reformed scraps sounds gross, and Subway chicken is gross, but molding reformed scraps is also what makes a beautiful salami or sausage. Anyway, I guess I'm trying to separate the category of food (processed), which can have merit, from Subway's abuse of it.
I guarantee you there are at least some processed chicken options at a local shop. Even an upscale one might have something like Boar's Head maple glazed.
