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The four-year vegan experiment at Eleven Madison Park is officially over. Chef Daniel Humm’s Flatiron dining room, one of the world’s most lauded fine-dining destinations, will reintroduce meat and seafood to its $365 tasting menu starting October 14, ending its run as the globe’s only three-Michelin-star vegan restaurant. The pivot comes after Humm admitted that the plant-only approach, launched with moral fervor in 2021, was excluding too many diners, hurting wine sales and making it harder to fill seats for lucrative private events.
“I have some anxiety that people are going to say, ‘Oh, he’s a hypocrite,’” Humm told the New York Times. “But I know that the best way to continue to champion plant-based cooking is to let everyone participate around the table.” Guests will now be able to swap in dishes like lavender-honey-glazed duck, lobster or oysters for select courses—though the menu will remain mostly plant-based for anyone wanting the original vegan experience.
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The announcement lit up the foodie internet, with some applauding the move toward “choice” and others accusing Humm of selling out. And the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a.k.a. PETA? They went full cleaver. In a statement, PETA President Tracy Reiman blasted Humm’s rationale, particularly his claim that watching a shepherd slaughter a goat in Greece earlier this year was “very moving” and inspired him to bring back meat.
“Anyone can see the fear in an animal’s eyes when she is held down and her throat is slit,” Reiman said. “Watching the blood pour from a struggling, terrified animal would make most kind people go vegan, so that it had the opposite effect on Chef Humm is troubling. Every animal is someone and they will do all they can to avoid the knife. PETA calls on people to avoid Eleven Madison Park.”
It’s not the first time a big-name chef has reversed a no-meat pledge: Ariane Daguin of D’Artagnan once predicted it wouldn’t last, noting Dan Barber, Charlie Trotter and Alain Ducasse all eventually brought animal protein back. Still, for Humm, the shift marks a dramatic change in tone: from climate-change-fighting moral mission to a more pragmatic, seat-filling hospitality play.
Whether this is a shrewd business move, a philosophical evolution or just a case of foie-gras FOMO, one thing’s certain: When the duck returns to the EMP dining room this fall, so will a whole new wave of diners—just don’t expect PETA to be booking a table.