Award-winning chef Seppe Nobels accused of drug dealings and financial mismanagement
Top chef Seppe Nobels is suspected of ordering drugs using coded language and financially mismanaging his social restaurant Instroom.
Award-winning chef Seppe Nobels accused of drug dealings and financial mismanagement
The Antwerp court is investigating a drugs case in which Seppe Nobels (44) plays a central role. The award-winning chef is believed to have ordered cocaine from a dealer gang using code words such as "cauliflower" and "tomatoes". This emerges from court documents that De Morgen was able to review.
Nobels built an impeccable image as a vegetable chef. Armed with a Green Michelin star, he taught Flanders to eat cauliflower again. His restaurant Instroom on the Left Bank offered refugees the chance to work. Through the television programme 'Restaurant Misverstand', he helped people with early-onset dementia. King Philip even honoured him with the title of Commander in the Order of the Crown.
Yet the image of the socially committed chef appears to be cracking. In messages to a dealer, Nobels is believed to have asked for "three cauliflowers and a white cabbage" — slang for cocaine. "Tomatoes" and the question "how much longer mate, because I'm really hungry" also appear in the chat records.
Former colleagues state that the chef has long struggled with addictions to alcohol and drugs. A stay in a Thai rehabilitation centre was reportedly paid for by his family, but in reality the non-profit organisation UnitedWe — the legal structure behind Instroom — is said to have settled the bill.
Additionally, serious allegations are circulating regarding the financial management of Instroom. Trainees are believed to have worked for low wages and there is said to have been manipulation of funds. Nobels denies everything and speaks of a "smear campaign".
The chef is not alone in the Antwerp drugs case. The court is hearing the case within the framework of the investigation into the gang "Montana". When a ruling will be delivered is not yet known.
Source: Nieuwsblad