3 days ago
The week the plant-based dining movement wilted
This fall, for the first time in four years, meat will be back on the menu at New York City's legendary Eleven Madison Park restaurant. It's a notable about-face for chef Daniel Humm, who had famously eliminated all animal products from his menu—and evangelized a new way forward for fine dining—when the restaurant reemerged after the pandemic.
Humm had something of an environmental awakening during Eleven Madison Park's pandemic closure. He realized, he said at the time, that he couldn't go back to business as usual.
It was a calculus all sorts of businesses were making. 'Business as usual' had gotten us into the pandemic mess in the first place, and when the world shut down to contain COVID, we saw glimpses of a possible different future: emissions dropped, smog cleared, animals rewilded our landscapes.
For Eleven Madison Park, turning away from business as usual meant minding the planet's resources—which meant no more animal products. Compared to plant-based foods, meat and dairy require more land, use more water, and produce more emissions.
