Top New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park is turning vegan. We asked some of SA’s top chefs what they think about that
One of the world’s top restaurants, New York’s Eleven Madison Park, has announced it’s moving to a meat-free menu. Should Aussie chefs follow suit? Take our poll.
Food & Wine
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Ask Duncan Welgemoed about the decision by top New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park to move to an entirely plant-based menu, and the Adelaide chef doesn’t mince words.
“Not f..king impressed,” said the man behind East End hotspot Africola.
This week’s stunning announcement, made by Eleven Madison Park’s chef and owner, Daniel Humm, caused a major stir among the world’s food industry.
From next month, gone will be the Michelin-star restaurant’s lavender honey-glazed duck and butter-poached lobster, to be replaced with dishes “made from vegetables, both from the earth and the sea, as well as fruits, legumes, fungi, grains, and so much more.”
“We have always operated with sensitivity to the impact we have on our surroundings, but it was becoming ever clearer that the current food system is simply not sustainable, in so many ways,” Humm wrote on social media.
So will the move to a meat-free menu encourage other chefs to follow suit?
Or is Eleven Madison Park’s decision merely a marketing ploy which is financially unviable, especially in Australia?
Welgemoed said Humm’s shift away from meat would actually do more harm than good, particularly for the local farming industry.
“Yes, when you’re using ultra luxury ingredients, it has a negative impact on the food system, especially since you’re importing ingredients from all over the world,” said the award-winning chef.
“But I think (he’s) throwing farmers and industry under the bus by saying that the food system is simply unsustainable considering he’s been using caviar and fois gras on his menu for many, many years, without finding a nice middle ground with local producers.
“The financial impact it will have on the community is pretty severe as well.
“All this Daniel Humm thing does is showcase his disconnection with those producers and those communities, and for me, I’m not f..king impressed by that at all.”
Welgemoed said about 75 per cent of his dishes were vegan or vegetarian and his meat suppliers worked hard to “reduce the environmental impact” of their products.
“That is the way forward. It’s not about going from one extreme to the next,” he said.
Jessi Singh, who recently launched his first Adelaide restaurant Daughter in Law, on Rundle Street, knows the team behind Eleven Madison Park well.
Singh spent several years in New York with his popular Manhattan eatery Babu Ji and said he admires what the acclaimed restaurant is trying to accomplish.
“I know them personally, I know the whole team in the kitchen. A plant-based menu is such a great idea but the ingredients cost so much... which the consumer (here) is not willing to pay,” said Singh.
“It works at Eleven Madison Park because that’s a very special restaurant, it’s a unique experience. It’s very high-end and has clients that can pay.
“If I tried to charge $400-$500 for this amazing plant-based menu, I will go bankrupt in a month.”
But Singh, who estimates about 70 per cent of his menu at Daughter in Law is vegan or vegetarian, said the plant-based concept was an important one and very achievable in Adelaide.
“Climate change is happening, we have destroyed the planet and we don’t have enough food; the meat, the fish. We have crippled our food systems, so a plant-based menu is definitely more sustainable,” he said.
“It can happen here. We’re so lucky in Adelaide, there’s tons of water, farming space... and it would grow quick. Most of the plant-based food could be grown and ready in three-six months.
“But right now there are a limited number of people who are vegans or vegetarians, there’s not enough demand for it at the moment.”
One of Adelaide’s leaders in the sustainable food movement, SkyCity’s Sol Bar and Restaurant head chef Kane Pollard argues the demand for vegan dining is only rising in SA.
Pollard was joined by Momofuku executive chef Paul Carmichael and Three Blue Ducks founder Mark Labrooy for a special plant-based feast at the Tasting Australia Town Square kitchen this week.
“I spoke to a lot of the customers who came to the dinner and pretty much all of them weren’t vegetarians but they were excited to try some vegetarian food,” he said.
“There’s definitely a growing market there and people are starting to think about the global effects of their food. It’s time for the world to diversify a little bit.”
Federico and Melissa Pisanelli, the couple behind Adelaide’s first vegan fine diner, Allegra, on Gilles Street, agree the food sustainability movement is well underway in SA though on a “much smaller scale”.
“(Sustainability) is at the forefront of the minds of a lot of customers. You’ve already started seeing a lot of restaurants leaning towards that,” said Federico, who admitted surprise at the online backlash over Eleven Madison Park’s menu switch.
“To us, it’s not necessarily controversial, and I find it hard to find a negative with that. It’s a really positive shift in food culture.
“We think it should be applauded and it’ll inspire a lot of restaurants to go in the same direction.”
The couple, who also own the much-loved pizzeria Etica in the same building, said they started Allegra in 2019 after being exposed to “animal agriculture and the way animals were treated” several years ago.
“That led us to becoming vegan in our personal lives. It was those values we wanted to continue and bring into a restaurant that we would like to visit,” Federico said.
Pollard agreed with Welgemoed that it was important for restaurants to find a “happy medium”.
“I understand that it may put a bit of pressure on the cattle farmer side of things but at the end of the day, I don’t think meat is going to disappear,” said Pollard, who offers a both a full plant-based and meat menu at Sol.
“The vegan side of society will grow and people will not 100 per cent change but will look to introduce more vegetables into their diet, which is great.”
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