This is a true story: I've been afraid of trans fats [1] for years and years... long before I'd ever heard the words or knew what they meant.

Back then, partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil was gibberish. I had no idea that trans fats could lead to heart disease and diabetes [1]. Nor did I know that, a couple decades later, it would be widely condemned [2] as a health hazard.

All I knew was that a silver tub of stuff called vegetable shortening [3] was terribly, freakishly dangerous.

Here's why: When I was a kid, there was a teenage girl in my neighborhood who desperately wanted a dark tan. So she slathered Crisco [4] all over herself, and laid down to bake in the desert sun. And bake she did. She got so badly burned that she wound up in the hospital. According to playground lore, she had second-degree burns everywhere... even her underarms.

And so for me, Crisco will forever be synonymous with scorched armpits.

I realize that sunburns are not the reason that NYC's health department wants to ban trans fats [5] from the city's restaurants.

But I flashed back to that incident after reading one of the objections — as voiced by a spokesman for the New York State Restaurant Association [6] — about how banning trans fats might affect the moms-and-pops who own small restaurants.

Specifically, the guy told the New York Times [7] that, “For a health inspector to walk into a mom and pop restaurant in Queens, where they barely speak English, and find a can of Crisco shortening [8] on the shelf and then fine them $1,000,” he said, “well, that’s unreasonable.”

Ironically, Crisco hasn't had trans fats since 2004 [9]. (Though I'm sure it remains quite hazardous as a suntan lotion.)

Most of the restaurant owners interviewed in the Times say they already cook without trans fats. Foodwise, the consensus seems to be that consumer won't have to sacrifice taste. So, what's the downside?

Frankly, if the only victims here are restaurants and fast food chains that need a push to use healthier ingredients, it's a no-brainer. I can't wait till cities everywhere follow suit.

One of the proposal's supporters said it best: No one will miss trans fats when they're gone.