Meet the orchestra that uses VEGETABLES as instruments!
When it comes to mealtimes, do you eat your veggies? 🥦
Or would you rather play with them?
Well, what if we told you that it’s not just kids who play with their food? Some adults do it too! 🫨
The Vegetable Orchestra from Austria have been making music with fresh produce since 1998.
As of April 2025, they had made 346 public performances - the most concerts by a vegetable orchestra! 🎫
They are un-beet-able (ha! get it?).
The group have mastered the art of turning vegetables into instruments, such as the…
- Carrot recorder 🥕
- Cucumberphone (a carrot mouthpiece and a carved-out bell pepper attached to opposing ends of a drilled cucumber) 🥕 🫑 🥒
- Parsnip trumpet 🎺
- Leek violin 🎻
- Pumpkin drum (with carrot drumsticks) 🎃 🥁
- Pepper horn 🌶️
Which of these would you most like to play?
Credit: The Vegetable Orchestra/Apollonia Theresa Bitzan
Reflecting on their unique sound, the Vegetable Orchestra said: “You can make music out of nearly everything. 🎶
“Each thing contains a very specific acoustic quality and represents an intricate universe of sound.
“We believe that we can produce sound that cannot be (easily) produced by other instruments,” they added. “You can hear the difference. 🤩
“It sometimes sounds like animals, sometimes just like abstract sounds.”
So, how did this idea come about?
One of the founding members, Matthias Meinharter, recalled: “It all started as a joke." 😂
He had signed up for a performance-art festival with 3 of his university friends and when they were trying to decide what to do, they debated what would be the most difficult thing to play music on.
“We were making soup together at the time and one idea led to another,” Matthias explained. 🍲
Since then, the Vegetable Orchestra have played in venues all over the world, visiting countries such as the USA, Singapore and France. 🌍
By doing this, they’ve been able to access a wide range of produce and create new instruments.
In South-East Asia, the orchestra discovered that garlic chives make fantastic bass strings, and in America, they used agave leaves and kidney beans as maracas. 🧄 🍂 🫘
On 25 April 2025, the ensemble celery-brated their 346th concert at Play Earth Park in Tokyo, Japan.
Fun fact – this was their first-ever performance in Japan! 🕺
Before every show, the musicians buy enough fresh produce to make up to 25 instruments each.
But what happens to the veggies afterwards? 💭
Well, the used food is either given to the audience or disposed of in an organic waste bin.
The unused vegetables, however, are made into a soup that the concert-goers can enjoy after the gig. 🍲
How cool is that?!
When it comes to composing and recording music, the Vegetable Orchestra have invented their very own musical notations. 🎼
“No-one else could read it,” admitted Jürgen Berlakovich, who often plays the pumpkin. “It’s like a secret code.”
Nearly 30 years in, they have released 4 albums, and they’ve also sparked the creation of other food-focused ensembles, including the London Vegetable Orchestra. 🪈
If you’re also feeling inspired, why not find something in your home that you can make music with?
Uke can do it! 🫶