The Chef and the Bean
A true fairytale growing in reality

Everything you’re about to read is real!
People and stories that are born in the soil and grow through collaboration.
Only they’re so beautiful, they feel like a fairytale…

Once upon a time, not in a faraway kingdom but in Denmark, there lived a chef who loved vegetables even more than his frying pans!

His name was Søren Ejlersen, and in his kitchen, filled with aromas, he looked at a humble bean and saw something more… a story, a future that could sprout!

A story that began in the fields — where the earth whispers to humans the lost secrets of taste.

And he had a big idea!
To make people fall in love with vegetables again.

One day, someone gave him a small bag of carrot seeds.
“These are magic,” they said.
He laughed who still believes in magic carrots?

But when they sprouted, the soil burst into colors: orange, purple, red, yellow  a rainbow beneath the earth!

His customers loved them… but in supermarkets, no one dared to buy them.
They were… too different.

Years later, Søren understood the great lesson:
If you want to change the world, it’s not enough to plant seeds you must plant ideas!

On his long and fascinating journey, he met other heroes, and so, the Seed Chefs were born.

Chefs, farmers, and seed producers joined forces for a better future  to rediscover forgotten varieties, to create new ones, to give farmers income and the earth a breath of life.

But every chef was a magician, blessed with secret powers from their stars!

They weren’t just Michelin stars  they were symbols of wisdom, skill, and care.

With them, they could awaken forgotten dishes, make beans sing, carrots glow with colors and aromas, and vegetables tell their own stories.
Every touch of a chef had magic enchanting tongues and minds!
Whoever tasted their dishes felt as if they were traveling through worlds full of flavor and imagination.

And then the Chefs the magicians  of taste began their spells and culinary magic!

Chef Mario Sandoval (1 Michelin) tasted old bean varieties, touched the beans, and let their flavor shine like a flame.
Team L’Osteria Francescana (3 Michelin) experimented with local seeds — they scattered them to the air, and their stars gave them the power to grow in every field on Earth.
Chef Dominique Crenn (3 Michelin) placed sustainability at the heart of gastronomy — she touched the soil, and her stars created streams of water that nourished vegetables with the magic of sustainability.
Pierre Thiam, from Senegal, introduced the world to humble fonio — he made the fonio dance with joy, every grain glowing like a tiny sun.
Dan Barber, through Row7, created a farm-laboratory where chefs and agronomists design new seeds based on flavor rather than yield — awakening seeds that longed to become tastier and more resilient.
The Roca brothers — Joan, Josep, and Jordi (3 Michelin) — traveled from Spain to Norway’s Global Seed Vault to rediscover the beans of their childhood and revived the flavors of their earliest memories.

And that’s how Jack and the Beanstalk became The Chef and the Bean!

Not to climb to the clouds, but to reconnect cooking with the earth and people with the seed.

As Pierre Thiam said:

“Chefs and agriculture must be inseparable.”

Next time you hold a seed, listen closely…
you might just hear its magical voice whisper,
“Plant me… and we’ll change the world.”

Every bean, every dish, every story became part of a greater fairytale —
how taste can change the world,
and how it all begins with a seed.

And like every self-respecting fairytale — this one doesn’t end here.
It’s only just beginning to sprout…

Because why?
Because that’s how everything begins —
with an idea as small as a seed, yet powerful enough to change an era.

Real people. Real vegetables. Real change.
A true fairytale growing in reality.

And like every fairytale born from a spark, this one was inspired by the idea planted in us by the article
“The Seed of an Idea” by MAD Feed.