Edible Utopia at Somerset House

The creative cooperative Edible Utopia asked me to produce an audio tour of their mushroom growing project in the disused coal holes underneath London’s Somerset House.

Although they held some tours of the coal holes for the general public, Edible Utopia wanted all visitors to learn about the amazing world of mushrooms and be able to experience these hidden parts of the famous 18th century building.

So, mycologist Darren Springer and artist Clare Patey guided listeners on a virtual tour of the closed loop growing system that they’d set up at the site. With the coffee grounds and food waste gathered at the site’s cafes and restaurants in hand, they travelled down into the dark, damp Victorian coal holes underneath the courtyard where the waste was used to grow mushrooms and feed their ‘bedsit’ wormery. The idea was that eventually these mushrooms would end up on the restaurant menus upstairs, while the freshly produced compost would be used for the other food growing projects around Somerset House.