Apologies to readers looking for my typical supergenius cutting-edge analysis (that was a joke), but I have a pretty basic point about New York banning trans fats in restaurants: It’s stoopid. One more reason I hope my girlfriend gets living there out of her system quickly.

There is a tradeoff when it comes to food, one we make every day, between taste and health. Many of us make the wrong ones (including me with a bag of Chex Mix last night…ugggh). But it is our choice to make, and if we want healthy food we can seek out a restaurant that serves it.

According to Michael “I know what’s good for you better than you do” Bloomberg, the city’s mayor:

“Nobody wants to take away your french fries and hamburgers — I love those things, too…But if you can make them with something that is less damaging to your health, we should do that.”

By law, apparently, even if restaurants don’t want to and customers like the food less.

Not to mention the business aspect:

“Fast-food restaurants and other major chains were particularly interested in the board’s decision because a trans-fat ban wouldn’t just involve substituting one ingredient for another. In addition to overhauling recipes, the change disrupts supply operations, not to mention selling the new taste to customers.”

The most annoying thing is that healthier food that tastes the same sells, so most of the major chains are already researching legitimate substitutes through taste tests (read the article for an extensive list). If they’d just hold their horses, health nannies would get what they want. They can’t stand market solutions, though, so we end up with this kind of pointless intervention.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.