GARDENS Aged seven, Raymond Blanc was made to eat soil. Although it turned his stomach, it taught him a lesson he remembers to this day. ‘My father made me do it – and you never said no to Papa,’ he chuckles. ‘He took a big clump of earth, shiny and black, and said, “Taste it”. So I tasted the earth! It was incredible because there were thousands of flavours – acid, bitter, sour, musty… it was gritty, and sucked the mouth dry.
‘Years later, I said to Papa, “OK, I understand why you made me look at the earth, but why did you make me taste it?” He told me it was a joke – this was his sense of humour. But I also learned from it and understood that…
