The start of the asparagus season always generates excitement among restaurateurs and producers alike.
But one Michelin-starred restaurant was left red-faced after a drone carrying out a high-profile delivery of the first of the new asparagus crop crashed and exploded, live on television.
The vegetables, which were headed to the De Zwann restaurant in Etten-Leur, in the Netherlands, was being carried in a metal can and attached to a drone, the Daily Mail has reported.
Resataurant owner Ronald Peijenburg has previously used a Formula 1 racing car, hot air balloon and a helicopter to deliver the first crop of the seasonal vegetable, the Mail said.
“You think you have a cool idea with a drone – how original can you be? Picking up asparagus with a drone,” Peijenburg told Netherlands broadcaster Omroep Brabant.
“This is very, very sad because it was an amateur pilot, the owner of the drone, who organised this especially for me and brings his own toys. So this wasn't supposed to happen of course.”
The remote-controlled drone was being controlled by a pilot following in a pick-up truck, and was filmed on a local television channel.
