More Idiotry
Did this reallly get published? Oh, yes it did. Thanks, The Dartmouth!
You see, doughnuts, pastries, cakes, French fries, fast food and many other tasty delectables contain something called trans fatty acids. Through the marvels of modern medicine, it is now clear to us that these fats are peculiarly bad for us. As a result, the New York City health department is attempting to rule that all of the city's 24,600 food servers must stop using this most offensive ingredient because, according to Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, there are tasty alternatives that are far better for us.
What he means to say is that those tasty delectables contain variations on partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which contains trans fatty acids. All of those tasty delectables can be made just as easily with other fats like butter, lard, corn oil, soybean oil, or, if you must, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils. It is not peculiar that they are bad for us, dude - particularly bad, yes, peculiarly bad, no.
Unfortunately, there exists a large enough number of people whose reaction to a trans fat ban is "well, people shouldn't be fat, so…" to ensure that it is not tramped out as the bizarre, Orwellian thought control that it is. Enough people think of smoking bans in restaurants and say, "damn, I really hate inhaling that crap," and fail to take note of the lack of the gun to their head when they walk into said restaurants. We have become hypnotized by the idea of a nanny state who will do all our hard work for us and have tossed our lofty forefathers' ideals to the lions. Whatever happened to the pursuit of happiness? Last I checked, that great document did not conclude, "except for fatties."
Since when are firearms allowed in restaurants? Also: is the right to eat a doughnut made with partially hydrogenated vegetable an inalienable right covered under the pursuit of happiness? I don't know about that.
Seriously - does the D just let its op-ed contributors run rampant without any quality control? (Answer: yes.) I'm all for talking about trans fats and whether or not to ban them (Answer: yes.). But this dude has obviously spent very little time actually researching his topic and a whole lot of time thinking of variations on the nonsensical metaphor "It's like a Noah Riner speech just exploded all over my life."
Because the author hasn't actually done much research on trans fats, he mistakes what would be a ban on a harmful substance for what he thinks to be a ban on a perfectly acceptable preference. There is no mimimum acceptable allowance for trans fats - they're just straight-up bad for you. We're not talking about fat in general, here; a little fat is important in your diet and if you choose to eat too much of it, well, that's your choice, and I won't stop you. And everybody knows that I love me some baked goods. But this ban would be more akin to banning carcinogenic preservatives or toxic ingredients than banning bad-for-you baked goods. If it were to happen, the ban would merely require a shift in the kind of oils/shortenings that producers use. Wendy's has actually already voluntarily shifted to corn/soy oil instead of vegetable oil, with no major financial hurdles and no consumer complaints - there's no difference in taste.
Also, the title: "The Western Tradition of Trans Fat." LOL.