Big Cake Lobby Gets To Joan Krajewski

Last year, City Council passed a trans fat ban, which went into effect for chain restaurants last month. Trans fats are artificial fats which you probably shouldn’t eat at all, and so now-lame duck Councilman Juan Ramos proposed a bill getting rid of them. It sailed through, 17-0, and everybody except the libertarians were happy.

But then Big Cake apparently got to one City Councilwoman, and Joan Krajewski wants to get rid of the law entirely. Because when she voted for it, she didn’t know the city would be dictating what people eat, they’d only be dictating what people eat.

Failing a full reversal, Krajewski wants to exempt “mom and pop” stores, of which there are zero in all of America, from the trans fat ban. If not, the city will face a severe wedding cake shortage.

Paul Baumann has been working for 30-plus years in the family business, Mayfair Bakery on Frankford Avenue. He says he still uses trans fats in some of his baked goods, including wedding cakes: “If you want to do an elaborately decorated wedding cake with a soft cream icing, you need an icing that is firm and stable. That’s what the trans fats do. If they take the trans fats out, or they make them illegal in Philadelphia, I will have to reformulate everything that goes into a wedding cake.”

Yes, it appears Big Cake (very big, wedding cake-sized) will have its way again. Let’s just hope City Council doesn’t cave in to Big Menu, either.

Nutritional Info on Restaurant Menus? [KYW 1060]
Council Revisits Ban on Trans Fats [KYW 1060]
[Photo via Mannassas Cakery, licensed via Creative Commons]