So, New York City is thinking of banning trans fats from restaurant menus. KFC has committed to cooking in a different form of soybean oil, and apart from a few disgruntled chefs, nobody seems to be batting an eyelid or dialling 1-800-FOOD-COPS. But, mark the contrast, gentle reader, with the reaction to the decision to ban foie gras: a product of sickness and loaded with very-bad-for-you fat, not to mention astronomical cruelty. Then it's all, "Oh my God, our culture is being destroyed. It's the beginning of the end."

I fail to see how promoting health and diminishing cruelty could be considered different things (with one good but the other bad), but that's just me: one of those annoying scolds who dislike pleasure and want us all to eat mung beans and tofu. Yet, even though I am self-confessedly detective chief inspector of the Food Police, Special Obesity Division, I certainly don't blame everything on being overweight. In the end, what needs to happen is a reimagination of our food systems, our relationship with the land and our lifestyles, as well as our addiction to all of the various oils that ail us. It never was just the fats, Ma'am.