This letter originally appeared in the New York Times on March 14, 2007:
To the Editor:
Restaurants are replacing butter with margarine (or vice versa in some cases)? Or with palm oil (which is worse, from a health perspective)?
Outlawing one option does not mean that other, better ones magically appear at the same price. It does not even mean that there will be a net gain for public health.
But now the people who went into a panic over trans fat can turn their attention to some other tiny component (likely just as harmless) of our varied diets, gradually outlawing everything, while people who actually know how to cook wonder how foods are going to be kept solid, tasty, and long-lasting as every fat, oil, and disfavored substance of the moment is eventually forbidden.
Todd Seavey
New York