Posted Jan 4, 2009
Mouth-watering carnitas requires a decent dose of lard, according to the cooks at Los Gallos Taqueria.
“We gotta use lard,” said Alex Navas, an employee at the Mount Hermon Road eatery. “We use lard to make it crispy and make it taste good. That’s the way they do it in Mexico.”
Beginning on New Year’s Day, Los Gallos and others had to come up with new recipes for their lard-laden dishes, as trans fats were officially banned in restaurants across California.
The new state law, designed to help feed a healthier diet to people dining out, was crafted by state Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia.
Trans fat — a type of unsaturated fat — is created through hydrogenation to help preserve prepared foods and boost their flavor.
They’re regularly used in anything fried, including doughnuts, french fries, chicken nuggets and calamari.
Health experts say eating too much trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease by raising levels of bad cholesterol and lowering levels of good cholesterol.
The trans fat ban goes into effect in two phases. Doughnut shops, many of which rely on frying batter in vats of oil or shortening, are exempt until January 2011.
Many local restaurants stopped using the artificial trans fats years ago.
Thomas Vinolus, owner and chef of Bittersweet Bistro in Aptos, replaced the unhealthy fats with canola oil, which he said is more expensive and must be replaced more
frequently.
“It was something we could do, something we could afford to do. It was the right move to make,” Vinolus said. “I think the law is going in the right direction.”
Diners seem mostly supportive of the law.
Seth Burnham, a professional volleyball player and former Santa Cruz resident, said he knows what foods are best to eat. However, going out to dinner is a treat where many people don’t want to think about what’s in their food. Therefore, he said, taking trans fat off the menu lends better choices all around.
“There are a lot of obese kids out there, and people don’t want to pay attention to what they’re eating,” Burnham said. “Giving people a better option is not necessarily a bad thing.”
Date: Jan 2, 2010
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