To celebrate the exhibition FOOD: Bigger than the Plate, and the museum’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, we’ve taken a closer look at the V&A Mushroom Farm – a live example of urban farming and the circular economy – happening right here at the museum.
Developed in collaboration with social enterprise GroCycle, our mushroom farm uses waste coffee grounds (a source of valuable nutrients) collected from the museum’s own cafés, to grow delicious oyster mushrooms. The mushrooms then return to the café as ingredients for a variety of dishes, closing the nutrient loop. In this video, Catherine Flood, co-curator of the FOOD exhibition, shows us the process behind this unique installation.
You can taste the mushrooms at the V&A Benugo café until 20 October, and at a special one-day sustainable food pop-up event at Turnips Borough, Borough Market, on 14 August.
