Submitted by Samantha Jennings the 2024 Spring program in Copenhagen, Denmark…
This week our weekly event for the Culinary Living and Learning Community brought us to Bygaard, a sustainable mushroom farm located in Refshalevej, Copenhagen. There, we learned how the farm was established in a base of three former shipping containers, as well as how the mushrooms are grown, processed, and sold in a sustainable manner. We discussed the malpractice of labor and harvesting that is often characteristic of products sold from large companies in grocery stores and we talked about the true costs associated with fair labor. This farm is small and relatively new, however its products service a wide array of restaurants across the city center of Copenhagen. All mushrooms from the farm are grown in controlled conditions in two of the shipping containers, then processed, packaged, and delivered to each restaurant or catering service in true Danish fashion–by bike! Any remnants of mushrooms that cannot be sold are either used as a foundation to propagate new mushrooms or repurposed as compost for a local community vegetable garden nearby. Prior to coming to the farm I didn’t know anything about mushrooms or food sustainability, but I feel as though I definitely learned a lot from attending this event! It was extremely informative and interesting to see the process of how our vegetables ultimately reach our tables. I can’t wait to try cooking with some of these mushrooms next week! (Submitted on April 11,2024)