One of New York’s top fine dining restaurants is abandoning meat and going for a plant-based menu after its chef and owner posted a message on its website saying the modern food system was “simply not sustainable”. Daniel Humm is the driving force behind Eleven Madison Park, which has won three Michelin stars and is one of the top names in Manhattan’s elite foodie scene. The restaurant closed during the coronavirus pandemic but is now preparing to re-open in a way that is likely to be a shock to many of it’s pre-pandemic patrons, who opened their wallets for its famous American cuisine, often with meat-centric dishes. “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 … It was clear that after everything we all experienced this past year, we couldn’t open the same restaurant,” Humm said in a statement posted on the eatery’s website. “We’ve made the decision to serve a plant-based menu in which we do not use any animal products – every dish is made from vegetables, both from the earth and the sea, as well as fruits, legumes, fungi, grains, and so much more,” he added. The news is the latest – and likely most high-end – boost to those seeking to move people away from eating meat. Last week the cooking website Epicurious said it would not post new beef recipes out of concern for the damage rearing cattle causes to the environment and how it accelerates the climate crisis. At the other end of the spectrum from Humm’s restaurant, numerous major American fast food chains, such as Burger King, now offer meat alternatives.