The stories in Saturday’s papers were given upper-right-hand placement, normally the bastion of Serious News, Major Events. The headline atop The New York Times was "California Bars Restaurant Use of Trans Fats: The First State to Act." The Los Angeles Times gave more detail: "State Bans Trans Fats: Restaurants in California Must Stop Cooking with the Substances, Except in Tiny Amounts, by 2010."
The day before, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had signed a bill banning margarine and any other oils or shortening containing the dreaded trans fats, which have been found to increase bad cholesterol, which in turn can lead to heart disease. Starting in 2010, California restaurants that use those substances will be fined anywhere from $25–$1,000. Anyone who misses ingesting trans fats will be able to find them at their local market in what's referred to as "manufacturer-sealed packaging."
While cities like Philadelphia and NYC have banned trans fats, California is the first state to do so. It sounds like an earth-shaking development, a major sea change in the way 36 million people eat. But they’ve already been banned in public school lunches, and chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, KFC, Taco Bell and Cheesecake Factory have already phased them out. Back in 2006, Loews Santa Monica Beach announced it was going trans fat–free. The chef at the time, Gregg Wangard, said that as far as he was concerned, no one would notice the difference – non–trans fat substitutes are abundant, and work just fine.
Indeed, the general consensus among LA chefs that The Buzz talked to was a big yawn – none of them had been using trans fats anyway – even if they were glad about the new law for the greater good.
Wolfgang Puck (Cut, Spago, etc.) and Michael Franks (Chez Mélange) say they have never used trans fats in their restaurants. Neither has Akasha Richmond, chef-owner of Akasha in Culver City: "We have never used anything with trans fats, so it isn’t even an issue with us. Nothing uses trans fats, not even our fryer oil. We use non-hydrogenated palm shortening, for example, and we use trans fat–free canola oil. Nothing we buy has trans fat."
Agostino Sciandri, who has Ago outposts in Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas and New York, says the issue is particularly minor for Italian restaurants. "Italian cooking uses no trans anything," he said. "We use vegetable oil. We use olive oil."
Others wondered how the trans fat ban will affect the bottom line. "I’m happy that California is banning trans fats because trans fats are simply not good for you," says Glen Ishii, executive chef at Noé. "Trans fat is a synthetic product, not a natural one, and it’s hard for your body to break down. People like using trans fats because they are more economic to use. Even though the information about the negative effects of trans fats didn’t come out until recently, I stopped using trans fats a long time ago. For frying oil, macadamia nut oil is my favorite, but it’s just not cost effective to use in the restaurant. Palm oil is great too, but it’s also expensive. I usually use a trans fat–free vegetable oil blend."
Richard Drapkin, co-owner of Grace, bld and The Brentwood says: "For restaurants like ours, it's not a problem, for trans fats aren't among our ingredients. But for less expensive restaurants, there will be a jump in costs. One of the reasons restaurants use trans fat oils is that they're inexpensive."
But for Ron Salisbury, owner of El Cholo, giving up trans fats a few years ago didn’t present a problem “It was the right thing to do. It was easy to change our cooking to make it work. What I'm concerned about is the amount of salt in food. As important as it is to cut trans fats, it may be even more important to cut salt. I see that as the next big wave."
Though the last word goes to the always-irreverent Eric Greenspan of
The Foundry on Melrose: "As long as they don't ban olive oil or butter we'll be fine. And duck fat. And schmaltz."
-Merrill Shindler