Mental Floss

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra Turns Produce Into Musical Instruments

The group recently set a world record for the most concerts performed by a veggie-powered band—344 shows and counting.
ByCaLea Johnson|
The Idea of the Vegetable Orchestra
The Idea of the Vegetable Orchestra | vegetableorchestra

Music can come from surprising places—even zoo animal enclosures. One group of (human) performers is proving that you don’t even need conventional instruments to make melodies. The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra specializes in playing produce, and they’ve recently earned a world record for doing so.

According to Smithsonian, the Austria-based band’s performances are made possible by various fresh and dried vegetables. As per their website, they utilize instruments made of carrots, leeks, pumpkins, artichokes, and more. While some of the homemade instruments—like the carrot flute and eggplant clap—feature only one vegetable, others are more creative. For example, the “cucumberphone” is a bell pepper skewered by a hollowed cucumber. The veggies are typically hollowed with drills and cut with knives and other tools to create the desired sound. Other instruments, like the celery guitar, need to be plugged into sound generators to produce the tunes.

As the YouTube video above demonstrates, the food instruments often make unexpected sounds. This forces the players to think on their feet. As a result, no two concerts sound the same. The veggies are also only good for one performance, but the musicians don’t let the edible equipment go to waste. The instruments are distributed to the audience after each concert—either raw or cooked into a soup. The unsalvageable produce is used for organic composting.  

The 10-person ensemble recently set a Guinness World Record for most concerts performed by musicians who play vegetable instruments. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Guinness shared that the group has no competitors for the title. The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra has done at least 344 shows since its debut in 1998, performing internationally from the U.S. to China. 

While this particular band makes music out of produce, some produce items are capable of making music on their own—with the right technology. You can watch Bionic and the Wires showcase their fungi-forward music here.   

Read More About Food:

Home/MUSIC