Daniel Humm, chef-owner of Eleven Madison Park, built one of the world’s finest restaurants, an iconic New York institution, renowned for its groundbreaking and artful dishes. In recent years Chef Humm has continued to redefine the fine dining world by reshaping the menus to explore vegetables and plants, becoming the first plant-based restaurant to earn three Michelin stars.
Outside of the kitchen, Humm has become passionate about the environment and has encouraged his audiences to eat more plants, even just one day a week. He’s spoken before the UN Climate Conference and cofounded Rethink Food, which addresses food insecurity. Humm was recently named UNESCO Ambassador for Food in Education, where his goal is to demonstrate how chefs can shift to make better choices for the environment.
In this episode of Food People, Chef Humm discusses how he wants to use this new platform, along with his new book Eleven Madison Park: The Plant-Based Chapter.
Jamila Robinson: I’m Jamila Robinson, editor in chief of Bon Appetit and Epicurious, and this is Food People. Food People is the show where I get to sit down with the luminaries, making big moves in food, from chefs and entrepreneurs to celebrities and even activists. Because food is something we all participate in.
This week I was delighted to have Daniel Humm in the studio. Daniel Humm is the chef and owner of the world-renowned New York City restaurant Eleven Madison Park, a storied restaurant that’s won every accolade there is in the food world, including three Michelin stars and number one on the world’s 50 best list in 2017. But in 2021, Chef Humm made the decision to change the restaurant, famous for ingredients like foie gras and lobster, and of course its lavender-syrup duck, to an entirely plant-based menu. That decision and the advocacy Chef Humm has done with groups like Rethink Food and the United Nations has made him one of the most visionary chefs and thinkers in food today. I’m so excited for you to hear our conversation.
Welcome, chef Daniel Humm. It is so lovely to have you here in the studio.
Daniel Humm: So good to see you Jamila. Thank you so much for having me.
JR: You’re so welcome. It’s so great to be here. I’d like to start our conversation with a question we ask all of our guests, and it’s a little bit different for you because you coming in as a chef, but what makes you a food person?
DH: I think we’re all food people, which is part of the beauty of being in the food world and part of the dilemma also because everyone thinks they are an expert.
JR: Oh, say more. I love it. Say more.
DH: Well, we all eat and we all have our preferences and our loves and our references from memories.