Smoking Ban

What an unsavory irony to see Wolfgang Puck in The Times protesting the proposed ban on smoking in restaurants while he also appeared on television proposing recipes designed to promote good health.

Restaurateurs who advocate smoking in restaurants ignore the threat to the health of their patrons and of their employees. Further, it is hard to believe they seriously care about their cuisine, because no chef has yet devised a dish which tastes good when accompanied by the acrid stench of tobacco smoke.

As for the claim of another of the protesting restaurant owners that he never lost a customer because of smoking, let me guarantee he is wrong. There are many restaurants I, and others I know who feel the same, do not patronize because of the risk that the taste of the food will be ruined and one’s health will be endangered by smoke from tables inadequately separated from nonsmoking sections.

M.P. CARR

Los Angeles