The fine art of renunciation

For Humm, though, this proved to be a watershed moment: ‘The experience was worth its weight in gold. I had nothing left to lose, and I would never have had the courage to make radical changes otherwise.’ Humm is also certain that he would never have altered course in the way he did if his restaurant had stayed fully booked, night after night, with 300 employees on the payroll. Ahead of reopening in June 2021, Humm sent shock waves through the restauranteering world by announcing that he would be serving a purely plant-based menu going forward, stating that ‘the current food system is simply not sustainable in so many ways’.

However, this radical move didn’t just earn the Swiss native applause. After visiting the restaurant, Pete Wells, the influential restaurant critic for the
New York Times, opened his review by stating that ‘Daniel Humm does strange things to vegetables’. Wells had been served a beetroot that had been smoked, dehydrated, rehydrated, wrapped in lettuce, kimchi and nashi pear, and cooked in a clay pot. He didn’t hold back in his piece: ‘It smelled like a burning joint and tasted like furniture polish.’ It was a bitter pill to swallow for Humm, who was used to tasting success. ‘It was brutal, especially because we had worked so hard to find a new culinary language,’ Humm lamented. The turning point came in October 2022, when EMP (as those in the know call it) became the first vegan restaurant in the world to be awarded three stars by the Michelin Guide. In doing so, Humm had not only set a milestone for the acceptance of plant-based cuisine in gourmet gastronomy, but also proved yet again that he’s one of the most pioneering chefs of our time. 

His courage to take the road less travelled, eschew convention and commit heart and soul to his projects have been recurring themes throughout his life. Daniel Humm was born in the village of Strengelbach, in the Canton of Aargau. The son of an architect, he dropped out of school at the age of 14 to begin an apprenticeship as a chef. Aged just 25, he left for San Francisco with only two suitcases and without speaking a word of English. Humm made his way to New York in 2006, took over EMP as a complete unknown, and worked with his business partner at the time, Will Guidara, to take it to the very top. ‘He was always extremely eager to learn, and absorbed new things like a sponge,’ says Humm’s former boss, retired Vaud-based chef Gérard Rabaey, when describing his erstwhile charge. For the now 47 year-old Humm, one thing’s for certain – he’s going to continue on his path as the trailblazer of plant-based gourmet cuisine. Humm has just published the diary that he kept during the pandemic. The title? Eat More Plants.

– elevenmadisonpark.com

Words Patricia Bröhm
Photo Joan minder