Eleven Madison Park Reintroduces Foie Gras Amid NYC Ban Push

Eleven Madison Park has placed foie gras back on its menu, even as New York City moves closer to enacting a ban on the controversial delicacy, highlighting ongoing tension between high-end dining and animal welfare legislation.

Eleven Madison Park has put foie gras back on its menu as New York City edges closer to enforcing a long-delayed ban on the delicacy. The move marks a sharp reversal for a restaurant once hailed as proof that fine dining could thrive without animal products. A September menu update featured a dish called Black Truffle & Foie Gras Stuffed Chicken, shared on the restaurant’s Instagram account. Eleven Madison Park had gone fully plant-based in 2021 and retained its three Michelin stars in 2022, but reintroduced animal products last year. Head chef Daniel Humm said at the time that financial strain had driven the decision and that the menu would remain largely plant-based while including lobster, oysters, and duck. Plant Based News noted that the restaurant’s “secret” dining room allegedly served meat, fish, and foie gras even after its vegan announcement. Humm had previously spoken out against foie gras. In 2024, he told Food & Wine that luxury foods like Kobe beef, caviar, and foie gras were “from a different time.” Yet his new restaurant, HUMM, now features a bagel filled with caviar on its website, while Eleven Madison Park promotes chicken stuffed with foie gras. VegNews observed that the very ingredients Humm once dismissed as outdated have become central to his restaurants’ identities. The return to foie gras drew criticism from Alexis Gauthier, the Michelin-starred chef behind Gauthier Soho and 123 Vegan. In a Substack post, Gauthier wrote that he “could hardly believe” what he was seeing and added that there was an enormous difference between returning animal products to a menu and actively promoting foie gras as an object of desire. He said the decision left him feeling “haunted” by images of foie gras production and argued that influence came with responsibility. Foie gras is made from the liver of a force-fed goose or duck, a process that causes the liver to swell. In the US, 89 percent of people support a national ban on force feeding, while 81 percent support a foie gras ban. Sixty-one percent said they would be more likely to dine at a restaurant that had stopped selling foie gras for ethical reasons. New York City voted to ban foie gras in 2019, but years of industry lobbying and appeals delayed implementation. Earlier this year, the New York Appellate Division upheld the ban and denied a request to reconsider or allow further appeals. For now, foie gras remains available while the legal process continues, but if the ban takes effect, Eleven Madison Park and all NYC restaurants could be prohibited from selling it. Critics worry that Humm’s reversal may legitimise practices that gastronomy should be moving beyond. VegNews warned that when an influential chef like Humm promotes foie gras, it sends a message that luxury dining cannot exist without it, undermining the idea that innovation and cruelty can coexist.

Read source: Plant Based News