The chef-owner of Eleven Madison Park is putting meat, fish and poultry back on the menu – and it’s proving controversial. By David Burrows.
“Change is fundamental to who we are and how we grow. As I approach my 20th anniversary at EMP, I’ve decided it’s time for change again.”
This is the news that Daniel Humm, chef-owner of renowned New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park (EMP), is returning fish, meat and duck to the menu from October. Humm wrote on social media that the new menu “embraces choice”, adding: “Eating together is the essence of who we are, and I’ve learned that to truly champion plant-based cooking, I need to create an environment where everyone feels welcome around the table.”
The move to go 100% plant-based at EMP in 2021 was due to environmental and animal welfare concerns. “We couldn’t go back to doing what we did before,” Humm told The New York Times when he announced the vegan menu.
The U-turn has inevitably created heat for Humm as well as supporters of a more herbivorous approach to food consumption among humans. “[…] the tonal shift is striking, from moral urgency to menu flexibility in under half a decade. And above all, it’s a reflection of these times,” noted Eater New York. “In an era when climate advocacy is muted and the Trump administration is gleefully gutting environmental protections, Daniel Humm has read the room, softening the vegan virtue signalling of Eleven Madison Park, one of the most expensive restaurants in the city.”
There will certainly be an element of ‘we told you so’, especially from those who fail to see the urgency of the climate and nature crises and the role production and consumption of livestock products has in accelerating these. But surely this is not a failure: this is currently the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the world that does not serve animals products, for example.
Humm explained to the New York Times this week that the commercial reality of offering less choice has caught up with him. “It’s hard to get 30 people for a corporate dinner to come to a plant-based restaurant,” he explained.
Most of the meals will remain plant-based – which is surely positive and perhaps a reflection of our collective failure rather than Humm’s? Change takes time and, on reflection, Humm’s intervention, albeit temporary, will have played a role.
One problem, however, is that Humm may well have reinforced perceptions that plants are for hippies, hipsters and the well-heeled rather than everyone; and that meat is for the mainstream because it’s cheap, convenient and copious. Already, the combined emissions of the world’s largest 15 meat and dairy companies are 52% and 47% higher than the livestock-related methane emissions of the EU and the US respectively, according to Changing Markets Foundation.
CMF, together with the likes of Mighty Earth and WWF, recently ran a webinar on the methane problem “hidden” by food retailers, manufacturers and foodservice companies. The accountability is “abysmal” said Greenpeace expert Shefali Sharma as she and others took shots at the likes of JBS, Tyson, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Costa.
The medium-sized hot chicken chains are arguably the ones to watch. Investors have made a killing in backing the latest fast food trends and, as Times Radio business presenter Dominic O’Connell noted recently, “warm oily hen” is the one right now. This could be a slippery slope away from healthy, sustainable diets. Figures from Meaningful Vision, a foodservice industry consultancy, show the number of chicken restaurants has grown by about one third since 2021 (to 1,904), compared to growth of 20% in the wider fast food sector. Research firm Circana also estimates that chicken servings in fast food restaurants grew 6% in the year to April, notes O’Connell.
Humm is reportedly thinking about adding chicken to his menu. Maybe he is just ‘reading the room’ after all?
