Fat chance.

In New York, land of the quarter-pie pizza slice and Sunday dim sum, health officials made national headlines last week with their unanimous vote to prohibit the city's 20,000 restaurants from serving food with more than a tiny amount of trans fat.

In Los Angeles, land of brown rice sushi, colon cleanses and fad diets, the mood was characteristically blase. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said that there is no similar push, and that there has been no discussion of such a measure.

Chicago, known for corner pubs and its array of surprising sausage and cheese amalgamations, is considering a similar ordinance that would affect restaurants with $20 million or less in revenues.

These laws would pertain to every restaurant (yes, McDonald's and Cheesecake Factory, too), meaning foods like bread, cake, chips and salad dressing will come off menus or face serious recipe revamps.

The average American eats about 6 grams of trans fat each day, but a large order of fries contains as much as 8 grams of trans fat.

Trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil. Hydrogenation increases shelf life and flavor stability, making it attractive to packaged snack makers and restaurants. Trans fat raises dangerous cholesterol and increases risk of congestive heart disease.