Elementary Chef

As you can imagine, New York’s restaurateurs aren’t happy about the city’s ban on trans fats.

As they say in their press release:
“The National Restaurant Association has attempted to work with the New York City Board of Health, but the Board seems determined to work against the industry. Both proposals are examples of well-intentioned, misguided social engineering. We look forward to working with the City of New York and other municipalities to educate them that quick fix solutions to complex problems will not be effective. The industry is looking for practical, long-term solutions that won’t disrupt the dining experiences of our customers or hurt New York City’s restaurateurs.”
The whole thing is here.

What I wonder is what the Board of Health is really trying to accomplish? I figure they’re either
(A) so arrogant they think they can just ban something and it’ll automatically go away, or
(B) just trying to see how much they can get away with.

Sure, trans-fats aren’t the most wonderful things in the world, health-wise, but it seems to me there’s a better way to go about removing them from the world’s dinner plates than by waving a legal magic wand. My buddy Dean has some (well, a LOT of ) pretty good technical info and a slightly different opinion here.

Even more here at Business Week.

What they’re saying at Yale.

And at The Village Voice

What’s next — a black market in Crisco? ;>) Better get it now, kids, before the price goes up! I have this image in my head of unsavory characters loitering around schoolyards with backpacks full of french fries and pies…

And I really wonder how they’d really enforce this anyway — do they even have the manpower?

So, dear readers, what do YOU think about all this brouhaha???

Here’s the thing — I’ve been baking with Crisco for several decades. So have many millions of other people. Now, if Crisco (and margarine) were suddenly to disappear, what would we use for our pies, cakes, and cookies?

Sure, there are other choices — lard or butter. Lard tastes awful in sweet dessert items, and butter is way expensive.

One of the reasons Crisco has been so popular is that it doesn’t impart much, if any, taste, and so your recipe comes out tasting like whatever else you put into it. All your spices and flavorings are right there, without competition from the shortening.

So it’s going to be really interesting to see how this plays out!

Crisco, transfat, NewYork