He was just trying to weed out bad flavors.
A well-known Sicilian chef was found with the wrong type of pot alongside his pans — but insisted he was just “researching new flavors” for his contemporary cuisine, according to reports.
Carmelo Chiaramonte was busted with a pair of 6-foot marijuana plants and just over a pound of Indian hemp plant heads during a raid on his home near Catania in eastern Sicily, according to AFP, citing local media.
Officers also found cannabis-infused wine, coffee, olives — and even tuna, according to the reports.
He was arrested on suspicion of drug dealing and released pending trial, the BBC reported, citing local media
The 50-year-old chef denied dealing drugs — telling police he turned to the Devil’s Lettuce for fresh ideas, because he is a pioneering “agro-food consultant for third-millennium cuisine,” according to the BBC.
Chiaramonte found fame through TV food shows in Italy and once told a newspaper reporter that “a cook is a drug addict and an alchemist,” according to the reports.