"I never intended to grow vegetables, or any food at all. I was a musician and thought anyone who grew food was quite mad."
So begins a fascinating interview, just published in the Guardian, with the man who grows flowers for decorative recipes for chefs including Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver.
"My first customer was Jamie Oliver's Fifteen in Watergate Bay," says Sean O'Neill. "Coming from an artistic background, I've found it very easy to work with chefs, to understand what they want their plates to look like. Someone like Heston Blumenthal might want the flowers of various plants at really specific stages depending on how small or closed they are."
And rather beautifully, Sean claims that he couldn't have become a food-grower any other way: "I wouldn't be very good as a normal farmer, because I always get too distracted by how beautiful and fascinating everything is."
You can also read the full interview HERE -- which is well worth doing for the recipes alone, which show you how to make an amazging meal using Marigolds or Nasturtium!
