East of Eden:
Sir Tim Smit
looks to the future
Spring 2016 | Issue 29 | £3
Spring 2016 Issue 29
Front cover image: Wuyue Feng
('May wind') sculpture, Qingdao.
Photo: Dr Bernd Gross
Eden Magazine is published by
Eden Project Publications
Eden Project, Bodelva, St Austell
Cornwall PL24 2SG UK
All profits from this magazine go to the
charitable work of the Eden Trust.
The Eden Trust,
registered charity No. 1093070.
Contact us
Editorial
+44(0) 1726 818812
email: [email protected]
Membership queries
+44 (0) 1726 811932
email: [email protected]
It's spring and Eden is growing again
– well, it never stops of course, the
Cornish climate and our evergreen
Biomes make sure of that – but we have
two new plantings at our site at Bodelva,
the first of which, 'Bright Sparks', has
been planted by our apprentices and
is set to turn an unloved corner of the
site into a bold display which will keep
the Outdoor Gardens looking vibrant
throughout the winter. The second is a
stand of Californian redwoods which
will most likely outlast Eden itself.
The grove of coast redwoods (Sequoia
sempervirens) could live for 4,000 years
and reach nearly 400ft in height. The
first sapling in the ground was a clone
of the Fieldbrook Stump, the remains of
a famous northern Californian redwood
which was felled in 1890 when it was
around 3,500 years old. The planting is
the result of a partnership between Eden
and Archangel Ancient Tree Archive
(AATA) in northern Michigan. As they
grow, the trees will form an avenue of
giants along the main entrance road to
Eden, and one day in the distant future,
to a lake under which the remnants of
the Biomes may glimmer.
Eden is growing in other ways. Our
overseas projects continue to advance,
and in this issue we have an excerpt
from the new edition of Sir Tim's
book, Eden, which explains how and
why we came to end up working in
China. Closer to home, a range of new,
Eden-licensed products are appearing
across the UK. Tracey Smith, our
Commercial Manager, takes us
through the process and introduces
some of the products that are being
developed with our partners.
We also explore how chocolate
is helping to displace cocaine in
Colombia and we go behind the scenes
to discover how Eden is tackling food
waste using its staff canteen.
The magazine too, is gradually
evolving, our new-look events pages
bringing together the best of Eden's
visitor programme alongside courses
and special Members-only events, and
future issues will see further changes
to bring more of Eden's many facets
to light.
Rob Lowe Editor
Editor
Rob Lowe
Assistant Editor
Mike Petty
Design
The Eden Project Design Team
Printed locally by
Four Way Print Limited, Cornwall.
Forty Lanlivery CP School pupils help plant forty coastal redwood saplings. Photo: Emily Whitfield-Wicks.
Regulars
4
News
6
Horticultural highlights
26 Reviews
28 Eden activity
29 Diary
Features
8
ast of Eden E
Tim Smit
12 W
ellcome Image Awards Rob Lowe
14 F
ifteen years of extreme
gardening Julie Kendall
17 E
den hits the shops Tracey Smith
20 F
rom Coca to Cacao Claire and Kate Francis
23 S helf life Rob Lowe
3
The Big Lunch: ‘it’s a way of life’
Eight years on, The Big Lunch is going strong. Last year,
7.29 million people across the UK took part in the annual
get-together for neighbours, an essential – and enjoyable
– first step in bringing change to their communities. This
year’s Big Lunch will be held on Sunday 12 June, the same
day as HM the Queen’s Patron’s Lunch celebrations, so we
expect it to be a bumper year!
Big Lunch day sees neighbours roll out the bunting and
come together to enjoy food and fun. From street parties
to garden picnics, communities celebrate local living and
share everything from ideas and conversations to skills and
resources – not to mention copious amounts of cake. Just
eating with our neighbours can help friendships grow and
spark conversations about how to tackle important social
issues like loneliness and isolation in our communities.
It’s as simple as waving hello on the school run or looking
in on an elderly neighbour; the impact of The Big Lunch
extends far beyond the day itself. Big Lunch participants
have gone on to set up meals-on-wheels services and
community clean-ups, to name but a few. As one organiser
Photo: Steve Tanner.
Insects and leftovers for lunch
The first Ambassadors Event for The Wellcome Trust’s
programme The Crunch was held at the Eden Project at the
beginning of March. The team have embarked on an epic
journey around the country bringing together people who
4
Big Lunch, Church Road, Wales.
put it, ‘The Big Lunch isn’t just an event, it’s a way of life!’
There are lots of ways to get involved in The Big
Lunch – from organising your own to attending one of
the inspirational Big Lunch Extras camps at Eden and
connecting with like-minded people online.
Start making a positive change in your community by
visiting www.thebiglunch.com to request a free pack and
take the first steps to organising your own Big Lunch on
Sunday 12 June.
want to help start conversations about our food, our health
and our planet.
The event at Eden included a range of activities designed
to get people talking about where our food comes from
and the impact it has on us and on the environment. Our
Ambassadors left fired up and ready to get out there and
spread the word about the future of food.
The future of food was also very much on the menu
for lunch: chefs Stuart Millard, Simon Fooks and Michael
Greer came up with a menu which included minimealworm burgers and mini-critter pasties. Prepared with
the help of Eden apprentices, the menu also featured dishes
made from leftovers, like arancini, panzanella salad and
treacle tart.
The Crunch is a year-long series of activities and events
brought to you by the Wellcome Trust in partnership with a
range of organisations including the Eden Project and Sustain.
Eden and Sustain are running 15 Ambassador Network
Events around the UK from now until the end of June this
year. To find out more visit: thecrunch.wellcome.ac.uk.
Membership News
In surprisingly clement weather for early February,
Outdoor Gardens Supervisor Julie Kendall led a group of
Members around the small orchard at Eden and was able
to demonstrate some important tips for the pruning and
care of apple trees. Our orchard is often overlooked but
is a haven in the summer. We learned about rootstock
and how this can affect the type of tree you end up with,
tip bearing and spur bearing trees and how to prune
accordingly. Lots of questions were asked with Julie
giving in-depth answers relating to pests, blight, lack of
fruit and many more useful insights on how fruit trees
grow. Members have told us they’ve already applied the
knowledge they picked up that day.
Later that month we headed for warmer climes,
the Rainforest Biome, for a tour of the biggest trees we
have under cover at Eden. Rainforest Biome Supervisor
Hetty Ninnis took us on an intriguing tour, imparting
all sorts of information including how to tap a rubber
tree! We then took turns in attaching bromeliads to
old ropes (pictured) so the horticulturalists could later
string them across the top canopy of the Rainforest.
This was very enjoyable if somewhat dirty work but the
end result was very pleasing indeed.
In March we had a special Curators’ Talk on our
newest permanent exhibition, ‘Invisible You – The
Human Microbiome’, in the Core building. Led by
curators Gabriella Gilkes and Celine Holman, we
explored in greater detail how the exhibition came
about and included films which showed how artists were
matched with scientists and the results of these unique
pairings. Artist Rebecca D. Harris, whose embroidered
tapestry of a pregnant female represents millions
of microbes on the human body, also gave us a very
interesting talk followed by a Q&A session on her piece
in the exhibition and explained her motives and the
processes behind her work.
With the early arrival of spring in March,
Mediterranean Biome Supervisor Catherine Cutler
showed a group of Members the new blooms to look out
for including tulip cultivars, and the difficulties and
challenges the team has had to overcome this season. We
also looked at pest control and how to spot and eradicate
Members help out in the Rainforest Biome. Photo: Karen Tunstall.
wee beasties without using any chemicals. We even had
a chance to look at some of the smaller pests under a
magnifying glass to get a closer look.
On 17 March, Eden celebrated its 15th birthday and saw
the return of the Wellcome Image Awards exhibition. This
prestigious event showcased the top 20 images from this
year’s competition (see page 12 for a selection including the
winning entry). The winner this year is a painting of the
Ebola virus alongside macro photography and microscopic
images. This preview evening proved to be a very enjoyable
Member event, as we were able to toast our success with
our greatest supporters – the evening was enhanced with
a string quartet, glasses of fizz and an assortment of
deliciously tasty canapés prepared by Eden chefs.
We are looking forward to seeing as many Members as
possible at future events – which include behind the scenes
tours, book talks, taster workshops, and seasonal previews
like this year’s Dinosaurs – Land, Sea and Air. There’s
plenty more to discover as a Member; make sure you check
out the Eden diary at the back of the magazine and stay
up to date with our latest additions through our monthly
e-newsletter.
Karen Tunstall, Membership Co-ordinator
[email protected]
5
Bluebells
Banana
Horticultural Highlights
Spring 2016, by Shirley Walker
Outdoor Gardens
When the sun is warm, but the air is chill and filled
with birdsong, we know that April has arrived, with the
promise of long, bright days ahead. Cornwall is now a
veritable cornucopia of wildflowers, and the gardens at
Eden are no exception, with primroses, bluebells, violets
and campion vying for your attention in Wild Cornwall
and Myth and Folklore. Wander through the formal
gardens on a fresh spring day and you will be greeted
by a treasure trove of little gems, including Brunnera
‘Jack Frost’ decorating the Plane Tree Steps with its
lovely, silver-patterned leaves and powder-blue flowers.
Fritillarias and camassias are in full bloom along
with Corydalis flexuosa and Epimedium x versicolor
‘Sulphureum’. One of the highlights of the Cornish spring
garden, Magnolia ‘Leonard Messel’, with its large, showy,
fragrant flowers, can be found in the Japanese Swale,
behind the Core, while Magnolia ‘Star Wars’ appears
in several locations across the gardens – a fragrant,
rosy-pink stunner. For me, May and June are the finest
months of the garden year. Cool, misty May mornings
are gently burned away by the warm spring sunshine,
and afternoon breezes quickly dispatch the last vestiges
of winter. All things seem possible in the garden at this
time of year, and here at Eden, beds and borders are
bursting into life with fresh spring flowers. Aquilegia
are appearing in the Blue Border, along with drifts of
6
Campanula, Digitalis, Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ and
Anemone coronaria. Look out for Geranium ‘Brookside’
and Tradescantia ‘Isis’ – and don’t miss the array of
flowering fruit trees and shrubs across the gardens. If you
are looking for something new to grow in your veg patch
or allotment, then wander up to Global Gardens and see
the amazing range of crops on display. Appearing for the
first time are the hardy Kiwi, Actinidia arguta ‘Issai’, the
ivy gourd and the horned melon. You will also find the
wonderberry, but be warned – the fruits are poisonous
until ripe! In June, primulas decorate Myth and
Folklore while spikey puyas send up their magnificent
flowers in the Outdoor Med. Elsewhere in the gardens,
Alstroemerias, Astrantias, lupins and hostas can be
enjoyed along with one of my favourites, Eryngium
giganteum ‘Silver Ghost’. The strange but beautiful
dragon arum, Dracunculus vulgaris, smells like rotting
flesh, but you can’t help being stopped in your tracks by
these unique black and purple blooms.
Rainforest Biome
In the warm and humid environment of the rainforest,
tropical crops grow and develop at an astonishing rate.
Look out for padi and field rice, peanuts and pigeon
peas, lablab, long beans and sorghum, along with a host
of other unusual crops. Native to the tropical forests
of the Philippines, the stunningly beautiful jade vine,
Madeira cranesbill
Strongylodon macrobotrys, is in bloom, with its pendant
trusses of turquoise, claw-shaped flowers – a sight not
to be missed. May and June are the months when the
rainforest literally ‘goes bananas’, with many exciting
varieties of banana coming into flower and fruit, and
the truly amazing titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum,
puts in an appearance every summer. But it has a mind
of its own - we can never be sure exactly when it will
produce its massive and extremely smelly inflorescence,
so keep in touch!
Mediterranean Biome
An exciting addition to the Biome this season is a newly
designed perfume exhibit, loosely based on a Moorish
courtyard garden. It is decorated with traditional Spanish
tiles and filled with a wonderful collection of aromatic
plants including gardenias, mimosa, patchouli, bergamot,
and jasmine – enjoy a gorgeous sensory experience. In the
centre of the Biome, and hot on the heels of our vibrant
and colourful tulip displays, you will now find the exotic
Persian buttercups, Ranunculus asiaticus – a stunning
collection of showy, rose-like blooms in shades of deepest
pink, purple, red, yellow and orange – bred from wild
forms found in the eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia, and used as ornamentals and cut flowers. Our
beautiful Madeira cranesbill, Geranium maderense, also
begins flowering in April, and if you have ever visited
Jade vine
the Mediterranean region at this time of year, you will
recognize the unmistakeable and evocative scent of
citrus blossom, especially potent on sunny days. May
sees the return of the bird of paradise, Strelitzia reginae
– always a great favourite with our visitors. The Roman
garden is also back by popular demand, and you can
once again step back in time 2,000 years to learn the
secrets of the Roman vegetable garden. Mixed, informal
beds spill over with an array of plants used for food,
medicines, dyes, perfumes and for religious shrines and
ceremonies. Roman physician Diocorides, and writer
Pliny will tell you more. That perennial favourite, the
brilliantly colourful Bougainvillea, a Mediterranean
interloper from the Caribbean, continues to make a
splash wherever it appears in the Biome, and not to be
outdone in the colour stakes, the fabulous sunflowers
return to transport us to the sun-kissed sunflower fields
of Tuscany.
Outer Estate
Here you will find the magical world of Wild Chile,
and its wonderful collection of flowering shrubs. First
to flower is Berberis darwinii, with brilliant orangeyellow blossom, followed by Crinodendron hookerianum
with vivid crimson lantern-shaped flowers hanging in
profusion along its branches, and the Chilean fire bush,
Embothrium coccinem, a member of the protea family.
7
East of Eden: defining Eden’s future
Sir Tim Smit, Executive Vice Chairman & Co-Founder of the Eden Project
If you want to have influence that matters, there comes a time
when you have to set foot outside your front door.
Since Eden opened we had been
approached by people from an
assortment of countries wanting
to build an Eden. Gibraltar, Spain,
Portugal, Hungary, Korea, Japan,
Malaysia, Thailand, various Gulf
States, the USA, Tanzania, South
Africa and Colombia come to
mind, but the problem was that
each wanted to replicate what we
had done. We were unwilling to
do anything that would dilute the
uniqueness of Eden in Cornwall.
Eventually we gave up, because
the conversations wouldn’t go
anywhere interesting. Finally, in
2013, we concluded that we had to
make a big decision. Did we think
we could best serve our mission by
8
remaining only in Cornwall or did
we want to have one last stretch at
creating a global presence? We came
to the view that our ambition should
be to attempt to have a presence in
every continent of the world bar
Antarctica, but that each should be
totally distinctive and autonomous
to its region, while sharing values
with the other centres, as well
as opportunities, platforms and
exhibitions.
I was absolutely certain I would
not like China, so when first asked
to go, to speak at a conference, I had
seized on the excuse of my son Alex’s
birthday to say no. Would I make a
speech on film? That wouldn’t hurt,
would it? So I did, and extolled the
virtues of China’s Taoist tradition
and its relationship with the natural
world. I ended by saying that if ever
there was a nation that could shape
the future of our planet it was China,
We came to the view that our ambition should be
to attempt to have a presence in every continent of
the world bar Antarctica.
Previous page: Wuyue Feng (‘May wind’) sculpture, Qingdao. Photo:
and I would love to play a small part
in its environmental remediation
should I be invited to take part.
So when I was eventually asked, I
couldn’t really say no.
Over the next eighteen months
we Eden people saw Beijing, city
of rasping coughs and unexpected
sunsets; Hainan, the tropical tourist
capital of China, bordering North
Vietnam; Yunnan and the magical
city of Puer, the capital of the tea
industry, where the water is clean,
the air is pure and the soil is rich,
and all industry is banned in the
name of sacred tea; Hanwang,
where 70,000 people had died in an
earthquake. China is huge, and every
prejudice I had was swiftly dispelled.
With Jason Brooks as our completely
fluent interpreter we discovered
something extraordinary. We had
more in common with the Chinese
than with Germans or Americans.
The Chinese ‘get’ irony. I have never
laughed so much in my life.
We were told that there were two
ways of doing business: old school,
Dr Bernd Gross. Above: Aerial view of Qingdao, Olympic harbour. Photo:
where you get to know each other, eat
together a lot and slowly come to an
understanding; or the new American
way, all hard negotiations and
contracts. We loved China, we wanted
to work there, but weren’t quite sure
of the appropriate style of courtship,
nor the speed of consummation. We
met dozens of people representing
many different groupings. Some
were private companies, some were
quasi-government organizations, yet
others were state-sanctioned (part-
China is huge, and every
prejudice I had was
swiftly dispelled.
owned) companies, and then there
was pure government. The ownership
of land is tricky; it all belongs to
the government, and is then let
to regional government who, with
central government approval, may
let it to individuals or companies.
Peter Tritthart
Most private leases were for forty
years and company leases up to
seventy years. This is why you see so
much derelict property in Chinese
cities. This is usually property that
came to its lease end. Now, the world
is changing as the requirements of
a modern city and construction to
standards of universal excellence
demand investment that dwarfs what
went before. The new middle classes
and the corporations they run are
starting to demand an evolution
in the way things are done or else
investment will not be possible. In
Guiyang we drove through an area
roughly the size of Bristol due to be
completed in eighteen months’ time.
We had had to answer some
serious questions. We were offered
land where the original inhabitants
were going to be moved elsewhere.
We declined, because we believed it
to be fundamentally unlucky for a
project to start with the misfortune
of others. We were asked by friends
and colleagues whether we were
happy working in China where there
9
were issues relating to human rights
and environmental degradation. We
were offered wonderful ecologically
rich places and high-quality
farmland and found our potential
partners stumped that we actually
wanted poisoned or damaged land so
we could make an important point
about the potential for remediation
and so encourage others to do the
same. We were invited to build Eden
as a theme park, and in the current
economy that would be highly
lucrative but misses the point. China
is the most important country in the
world in terms of its impact on the
is madness, people say. As it turned
out, it wasn’t, and I shall explain why.
Having met probably a dozen
suitors wanting to build one form
or another of the Eden Project in
China, we finally hit on the right
partner in the most unpromising
circumstances. Dave Harland, our
Financial and Commercial Director,
and I had given up six weekends back
to back hosting foreign delegations
at Eden and Heligan. At short notice
a company got in touch seeking to
colonize our seventh weekend. We
were curt, offering them two hours
maximum. They came and we raced
China is the most important country in the world in
terms of its impact on the planet.
Fisherwoman. Photo:
planet; should that impact become
positive it would have an influence
all over the globe.
One gets much advice about
working with the Chinese and
can pretend to be world-weary or
innocent in response, but we can
only speak as we find. We have gone
down the old-school route. We have
talked until there is almost nothing
left to say; we have invited teams to
come to Cornwall, to see our homes
and to meet our families, and we
have given access to everything. This
10
Ken Marshall
round Eden, escorted them into
the board room, asked them about
themselves and then expressed the
opinion that they should hire some
copyists who could replicate Eden
for them with no fuss, since that
was what they obviously wanted.
We even offered to introduce them
to the teams that had this ability.
They were mortified at our rudeness
and we compounded it by saying
that most people who approached
us did not actually have the money
to proceed. Moreover, I was sixty
years old and didn’t want to waste
my time. We have the money, they
said, we have the land, we have the
desire and we don’t want to copy you
because we have visited the copies
and they are not you, we like your
attitude. They left, we were sent
plane tickets, went out to Beijing,
then took a flight to Qingdao on the
coast.
Qingdao, with a population of
around 9 million, is equidistant
between Beijing and Shanghai.
It played host to Olympic sailing
in 2008 and is the capital city of
Shandong Province, home to 135
million and a tourist destination for
around 63 million visitors a year,
split between Chinese, Korean and
Japanese. The city has a climate
almost identical to that of Munich,
which is why before the First World
War it had been a German colony,
enjoying the same conditions as
Hong Kong with Britain. Its town
centre could easily be mistaken for
Bavaria, and it is no coincidence that
it is the beer capital of China. More
importantly, during the Cultural
Revolution the city was spared the
worst of cultural cleansing because it
was Mao Tse Dong’s favourite holiday
destination.
The city is a modern essay in glass
and steel, with an historic heartland
that colours the way its people think
of themselves. They see themselves
as modern and outward-facing
and would, if asked, characterize
themselves as being from the same
mould as San Francisco. Qingdao
is a small city in Chinese terms,
but its ambition is to be the hightech leader of China and to play a
part on the global stage. To do this
it realizes it needs to be a leader in
sustainability because everyone in
China recognizes that the next phase
of her development will lead with
environmental healing: of her air,
soil and water. As a result, Qingdao
has decided to grow in size and
influence and has designated a large
parcel of land adjacent to the current
city, shaped like a huge blunt-headed
arrow, bordered at the narrow end by
two great rivers that drain on either
side of it into the China Sea, as Tech
City. Here three hundred thousand
souls will live, cheek by jowl with a
university and a commercial sector
already housing China’s centre for
artificial intelligence. It is here, at
the pointy end of the whole new city
region, that Eden has been offered a
home on land poisoned by salt and
nitrates due to a past of salt panning
and shrimp farming. A perfect site
to restore to its once verdant and
wildlife-rich marshes, in the middle
of which we can create a place that
has as its major theme water, the
source of all life.
The mayor was at great pains
to point out that he wanted Eden
China, not Eden Qingdao, and that
it had to become world famous. He
then introduced the chairman of
Tech City and the senior delivery
team for our prospective partners,
Jing Mao, developers of the Jing Mao
Tower in Shanghai, for many years
the tallest building in China. More
importantly, from our point of view,
they had already decided to partner
the Building Research Establishment
(BRE), based in Watford, the
world’s leading building standards
evaluators. BRE have their solar
research HQ at Eden. This alliance,
based on a project that sought to
bring sustainability to the fore in
China, is a marriage made in heaven.
The negotiations had their
moments. We flew to Qingdao
having commissioned Gareth Jones,
Cross section of the draft plans for Eden China
Eden’s Design Development Director,
to do a series of fantastical drawings
to illustrate our ambitions for the
site. We realized as we presented that
our audience was very enthusiastic,
and the unintended consequence
was that both the Mayor’s Office and
Tech City felt so excited they insisted
that they be allowed to invest in the
project. While massively flattering
and in the long term very helpful, it
delayed us by nearly six months as
all the parties drew up agreements
with each other.
After nearly a year of
conversation and negotiation,
we finally signed a deal to build
Eden China at Qingdao and went
out for dinner with our friends
from Jing Mao and drank more of
their famously pungent Maotai,
rocket-fuel white spirit that smells
of old socks and gives you instant
heartburn. We toasted each other’s
good health, wisdom and sheer
staying power until it was time to
go home and contemplate our leap
into the unknown. Whatever the
outcome, we had begun a journey
that would define Eden’s future.
This is an edited excerpt from the
new, updated 15th-anniversary
edition of Sir Tim’s book Eden
available now.
NEW EDITION, FULLY UPDATED,
WITH STUNNING NEW PHOTOGRAPHS
At the beginning of the twenty-first century,
the impossible was delivered. From the sterile depths of
a disused china clay pit in Cornwall rose one of the most
remarkable and ambitious ventures in recent memory. The Eden
Project’s Biomes, the world’s largest conservatories, are the symbol
of a living theatre of plants and people and their interdependence, of
regeneration and of a pioneering forum for the exploration of possible
future. Since Eden opened its doors to the world in March 2001,
more than 18 million visitors have flocked there and Tim Smit has
received a knighthood for delivering his astonishing vision.
This is the extraordinary story of the Eden Project, of its
conception, design and construction, and of the larger-than-life
personalities who made it happen. It is the story of how the hope
and energy of many men and women transformed a thrilling idea into
the breath-taking reality of one of the world’s great gardens. But Eden
is more: it is and has always been an educational charity – its mission
to connect us with each other and the living world, exploring how we
can work towards a better future. Eden has projects and partnerships
all over the world concerned with rehabilitation (physical and
social), community education, biodiversity, town planning, sustainable
construction, green employment . . . and much more.
‘Inspiring . . . An invaluable guide to how a large
project can succeed against all odds’
Sunday Times
‘Smit is a truly driven individual who does not
give up until he has accomplished his visionary goals’
The Times
£9.99
ebook
available
w w w. p e n g u i n . co . u k
Photograph © Scott Morrish
Eden, Tim Smit
(Eden Project Books) £9.99
11
Wellcome
Image
Awards
The Wellcome Image Awards are the
Wellcome Trust’s most eye-catching
celebration of science, medicine
and life. Now in their 19th year, the
Awards recognise the creators of
the most informative, striking and
technically excellent images that
communicate significant aspects
of biomedical science. Images
are chosen from the new images
acquired by Wellcome Images
during the preceding year. The
judges are experts from medical
science and science communication.
The exhibition can be seen on the
ground floor of the Core building,
until 31 May.
12
Opposite: Ebola virus – David S Goodsell, RCSB Protein Data Bank. Wellcome Image Awards overall winner.
Top left: Clathrin cage – Maria Voigt, RCSB Protein Data Bank. Top right: Wiring the human brain – Alfred Anwander, Max Planck
Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. Bottom left: Blood vessels in the eye – Kim Baxter, Cambridge University
Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Bottom right: Cow heart - Michael Frank, Royal Veterinary College.
Photo credit: Emily Whitfield-Wicks
13
Planting up the Rainforest Biome.
Fifteen years of extreme gardening
Julie Kendall, Garden Lead Horticulturalist
Happy birthday to us! It’s been fifteen years since we opened, and not
much more since we started planting. For a few years before that our
nursery at Watering Lane had been collecting plants ready to go in the
ground when a big clay pit was ready to start becoming a garden.
There are about 25 on-the-ground
gardeners based at Bodelva, backed
up by essential nursery and science
teams, and out of them six of us are
still standing after those fifteen years.
I always say I’m glad I’ve been here
since we started planting, but I hope
I never have to create a garden from
14
scratch again. In those few months
before we opened we went from clay
pit to building site to proto-garden.
Two things stick in my mind: the
weather (one of my colleagues, Paul
Newman, came in every morning
with an exact count on how many
days it had been raining continuously
so far) and then how we chased the
builders down the slopes.
The outdoor garden started
being planted from the top, the
first plants going into our native
flora exhibit we like to call Wild
Cornwall, although I always claim
it is Highly Maintained Cornwall or
you’d never be able to get through
all the brambles. It is a native, after
all, and great for wildlife. As the
builders finished an area we moved
in, until eventually we got to the
bottom. First we had to get soil on
the slopes and because of all of the
liquid sun we were being blessed
with it didn’t always stay there, so
sometimes it meant the next day
building wooden terracing on the
slopes before we could get the soil to
stay and then getting the plants on
the slopes as fast as possible so the
roots could start binding the slopes
together. To get the plants into
the Biomes, they would be driven
through the bottom of the garden. I
didn’t even know there was a tarmac
path there until three weeks before
we opened – it was just a muddy
wasteland until then. Huge lorries
reversed up to the front of the
unfinished Biomes, and the plants
taken to the holes we had been
digging ready and waiting. It was a
military operation.
I wouldn’t say we weren’t quite
ready on the day we opened, but we
were running around until the last
second. We’d been planting in the
When the moment finally came
to open the doors we gardeners stood
as an exhausted group on the bridge
that goes into the Link building and
watched a horde come over the hill.
the waterfall, had a chat and shown
them out again. All very low key.
Now we had thousands of people
heading towards us.
So what have we been up to in the
no one had ever really tried to build a garden in a clay
pit without any natural soil.
It was overwhelming; until then we
had only shared the garden with
the builders. There had been some
tours in the evenings, when we’d
taken visitors down to the top of
the Rainforest Biome by the Land
Train, walked them to the top of
last fifteen years? It’s been a great
learning curve; no one had ever
really tried to build a garden in a
clay without any natural soil. The
soil we found wasn’t great at holding
nutrients (yet sometimes would hold
too many) so every year we have
I wouldn’t say we weren’t
quite ready on the day we
opened, but...
dark in the Med Biome until late
the night before (I found one hole I’d
been digging by falling in it) and the
morning we opened the builders were
still in the garden. I was handing
them plants to put in the mixed
borders between the Link Building
and what is now the Core on their
way out.
Tree planting in the Rainforest Biome.
15
Planting the ‘Bright Sparks’ display.
added as much compost as we can
make, and trust me we make a lot.
More of that in a moment. We have
also tried to create niche planting
areas. In the Crops That Feed the
World exhibit we grow rice every
summer. This area of soil needs to
be different from those around it,
so has added clay. Some of the crop
areas are becoming tired: because
we also use artwork to illuminate
our exhibits it means we always
Much of the planting is
as it was set out from
day one
have to grow the same crops in the
same areas. We still try to rotate as
much as possible, and in other areas
give the soil a break by growing
something completely different
16
for a year or two. We used a green
manure in the barley area this year,
and this spring will be planting over
60 different types of pumpkin for
a great but temporary display this
autumn.
Back to compost: we make heaps
of it in three groups: long-term,
woody, and green waste. Every plant
that is cut back, pruned or has come
to the end of its life goes through
the compost heap and ends up back
in the garden. Long-term compost is
anything that won’t chip but is still
tough, things like Phormium leaves.
Woody plants will go through the
chipper first so they will compost
faster and then the green waste is
any green part of the plant (around
here that can be anything from
banana leaves to hops and barley).
Much of the planting is as it was
set out from day one, with maybe
a few tweaks. But we’ve also learnt
that we didn’t always get our plant
choices right. One bed you might
notice near the Core building has
been completely cleared. It was
planted up with lots of monocots –
some grasses and some more flowery
like Dierama, Agapanthus and
Crocosmia. Unfortunately one of the
grasses in the original mix, Phalaris,
outcompeted all of the rest. Even
when we tried digging it out by hand
it didn’t work so we had no choice
but to strip the entire bank. So now
we are going to plant back again; a
lot of grasses (the original idea wasn’t
bad), but among other flowery plants
we are really going to concentrate on
Kniphofia, otherwise known as redhot pokers. So it’s going to be hot hot
hot! There’ll be a few more changes
to come after that too – but you’ll
have to come and see them.
So how to describe the last fifteen
years? An adventure, yes. Hard work,
oh yes. Boring, definitely not. Here’s
to the next fifteen!
Eden Project Eco-Roast Coffee.
Eden hits the shops
Tracey Smith, Commercial Manager
If you wander down the coffee aisle in your nearest
Waitrose store you may be surprised to find Eden Project
coffee on the shelf.
Coffee has always been an important
part of the Eden story — beans from
Eden’s Rainforest Biome were used
to make the first UK-grown cup of
coffee back in 2008, by a chef at
Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant at
Watergate Bay. However, there was
only enough for 50 cups, so today,
the Eden coffee you’ll find on the
shelves of Waitrose is made by 918
Coffee Co. It’s the first of a new range
of licensed products that will be
appearing across the UK, made in
partnership with the Eden Project.
For Eden, licensing products
is not about lending our logo and
taking a cut of the profits. The Eden
brand is instantly recognisable and
we believe we have an obligation to
ensure that the companies we work
with share similar values. We also
see it as an opportunity to reach a
wider audience — people who might
never come to the Eden Project. We
work closely with our partners to
ensure that the finished product
reflects Eden’s values. The products
we license often have a link to Eden
itself, through the plants in our
Biomes or through our charitable
programmes and awareness-raising
campaigns. Everything we license
has to have a story to tell.
Over the last year, 918 Coffee
Co. has been working with Eden to
create five Eco-Roast coffee blends
inspired by our famous Rainforest
and Mediterranean Biomes – Central
American, South American, Far
Eastern, East African and Italian.
All of the five blends you’ll find in
Waitrose are either Rainforest Alliance
(RFA) certified or Fair Trade certified.
We love the coffee but we also
think 918’s approach is a perfect fit
with Eden’s own ethos. Eco-Roast
Coffee isn’t just ethically sourced, it’s
produced using an innovative, low17
Look out for these products in a store near you
Calendar
Inspired by the wildlife around Eden we are producing an exclusive
range of calendars with Flame Tree Publishing for 2017 that is both
beautiful and practical, featuring a mix of native and exotic birds,
hand-drawn by our own design team. We have included our beautiful
roul-rouls that you can see wandering around the Rainforest Biome –
and of course our favourites, the robins of Eden.
Eden Jam
Working with Somerset Cuisine we have developed a
unique range of handcrafted jams, slowly hand-cooked in
the traditional way in small batches in copper pans. The
Eden Project preserves offer a delicious selection of both
traditional and more exotic flavours. Innovatively designed
labels peel off to reveal little known facts about the fruit,
woven with stories and recipe ideas, perfect for making
breakfast more fun.
Doormats
We are also introducing some fantastic doormats with our partners
at Turtle Mat. Unlike traditional doormats made from coir, nylon
or even carpet off-cuts, the cotton-pile of Turtle Mats has been
engineered to actively absorb moisture and dirt, and is backed with
anti-slip rubber. All of the mats in the range are made in the UK.
The cotton-rich pile is made from recycled cotton while the rubber
backing is both PVC and vinyl-free. Turtle Mat use recycled rubber
from industrial offcuts that would otherwise be wasted.
18
The new home fragrance range.
carbon method which turns a waste
product into an asset.
Credited with inventing the
world’s first coffee-powered coffee
bean roaster, Justin Cornelius, CEO
of 918 Coffee, launched their new
system in September last year. 918
Coffee is as passionate about the
planet as it is about its coffee which
is why Justin and Chanel Cornelius,
who set up the company, together
with their dedicated team have spent
so long developing and testing the
new Eco Roast technology and the
whole Coffe-Eco System.
It’s estimated that 500,000 tonnes
of waste coffee grounds are sent to
landfill every year which speeds up
the decomposition of other organic
waste, thereby releasing methane
more rapidly. The Coffe-Eco system
harnesses the potential energy of
the coffee grounds to power the
roasters — according to 918 Coffee
Co., sending coffee grounds to
landfill is like throwing half-used
batteries in the bin. That’s why they
designed, developed and patented this
pioneering technology which reduces
greenhouse gas emissions and creates
zero waste, through a carbon-neutral
roasting process. The packaging,
designed by Paul Barrett from Eden’s
design team (who also works on the
Eden Magazine), is fully biodegradable
– including the labels – and the coffee
itself is hand-packed, all helping to
reduce its carbon footprint.
We’ve also developed a product
that might help you unwind with
our partners at Heaven Scent. The
new Eden home fragrance range,
available from May, includes
candles, reed diffusers and room
sprays, featuring twelve fragrances
inspired by our Rainforest and
Mediterranean Biomes and Outdoor
Gardens. The candles are made from
with sustainably-sourced rapeseed
wax — no paraffin, additives, or
animal-testing. As with our coffee,
sustainable packaging is part of the
challenge, so the candle vases are
made from recycled glass, and the
packaging is fully recyclable.
Eden has also collaborated with
Franchi Seeds to create our seed
range, inspired by plants from the
Mediterranean Biome. In the heart
of the Biome, our Mediterranean
Terrace restaurant is surrounded by
herbs and vegetables grown using
Franchi Seeds.
The range has been carefully
developed and comprises their best
sellers and gardeners’ favourites
complemented by some new,
unique and hard-to-find traditional
varieties. There are 32 proven
favourites in the range including
flowers, herbs and vegetable and
salad seed varieties.
As increasing numbers of Eden
Project products start to appear,
we hope that the Eden brand will
become the hallmark of high quality,
sustainable products that help connect
people with the living world.
19
From Coca to Cacao:
how chocolate is changing
Colombia for the better
Claire and Kate Francis
Once synonymous with coca and the drug cartels ruled
by Pablo Escobar, Colombia is putting its troubled past
behind it, in part thanks to another crop: cacao.
We decided to honeymoon in
Colombia firstly because of the
variety of landscapes, climates
and experiences it offered, but also
because after working for 15 years in
an artificial rainforest Kate wanted
to see the real thing. We spent time
on the Caribbean coast amongst
traveller’s palms, passion fruit, and
mangos before travelling inland and
to a higher altitude to the coffee and
cacao growing regions.
Walking around Medellín (the
capital of the Antioquia region), once
too dangerous even for locals to walk
around freely, we felt at times like
covered in stunning collections of
tropical plants; it was like a little piece
of Eden on every corner.
Kate is the Programme Producer
for Eden’s Site Wide Live Team, but
she was once a tour guide at Eden
with a particular interest in cacao.
So it was on our Columbian bucket
list to see a cacao plantation. Kate
had connections with Hasslacher’s
chocolate, having worked with Jim
Campbell, the founder of Hasslacher’s,
on the Chocolate Jungle festival in
2011. Hasslacher’s also supply the
Eden Shop. Jim was able to link us
up with Mauricio Salazar, who works
Founded in 1906, CasaLuker is one of the oldest and
largest chocolate producers in Colombia.
we were in a modern European city.
Since Escobar’s death in 1993 the city
has been cleaned up and invested in
heavily. Museums and art galleries
have been purposely developed in
the poorest of neighbourhoods to
restore civic pride and improve safety.
Walking through suburban barrios
we noticed that the roadsides were
20
for CasaLuker, the company which
supplies cacao to Hasslacher’s.
Mauricio met us at our hotel in
Manizales and took us to Granja
Luker, the company’s research centre
for cacao growing and production. We
expected a tour of maybe an hour or
so but it would be eight hours before
we were back at our hotel, having
gained an in-depth insight into cacao
production techniques!
Founded in 1906, CasaLuker is one
of the oldest and largest chocolate
producers in Colombia. Granja Luker
was set up in 1962 as a research centre
to train farmers in best practice and
help them to get maximum yields
from their plants. Farmers travel for
hundreds of miles to spend a week at
Granja Luker learning new techniques
in growing, grafting, fermenting and
drying. This is one of the few research
centres in the world that specialises
solely in cacao.
The peace and tranquillity of
Granja Luker, with its neatly tended
lawns and clean fresh air, made it
feel a million miles away from the
sprawling Colombian cities we had
spent so much time in.
Cacao trees dominated the
landscape at every turn and they were
laden with fruit – it’s not everyday
you see such concentration of this
species. The passion and obsession
with getting the very highest quality
yield from each plant and the
constant quest for perfection was
evident as we walked around the
20-hectare site. There were row upon
row of cacao trees being monitored
every day, sometimes several times a
day, as they trialled different types of
soils, amounts of shade or companion
planting, to see if they affected the
yield and quality of the cacao.
Top: Medellín skyline. Bottom left: Kate’s tree. Bottom right: Cacao pods
CasaLuker uses an agroforestry
system to help increase yield and pest
resistance. Some of the trees are grown
in the shade of the gmelina tree, which
is often used in construction due to
its straight growth. In between each
gmelina are plantain which go on to
be sold locally.
We tried fresh cacao fruit
straight from the tree, sucking the
gelatinous beans which tasted fruity
and yoghurty, and had the chance
to compare the flavours of the three
main cultivars, Trinitario, Criollo
and Forestero.
Colombia is one of the few
countries in the world that produces
Fino de Aroma (fine flavour) cacao.
The Fino de Aroma denomination is
an International Cocoa Organisation
classification. It denotes a cacao
with fruity and flowery aromas and
nutty malty notes that distinguish
it from other cacao. Fino de Aroma
represents just 8% of the world’s
cacao production. It’s produced from
Trinitario beans – a cross of the
Criollo and Forestero varieties. Criollo
is known for its superb flavour and
is considered one of the best types of
cacao in the world. Two hundred years
ago Criollo was the predominant
cacao bean, but its lack of resistance
to disease led to it being crossed with
the hardier but more acidic Forestero
to create Trinitario.
From the field we followed the
process to the fermentation stage.
Fermentation is essential for high21
Left:The nursery at Granja Luker. Right: Planting at Granja Luker.
quality chocolate as it helps to remove
tannins that otherwise affect the final
flavour. The pods are opened and the
beans carefully scooped out. At Eden
the fruit from our cacao trees is always
seen as a precious resource, so to witness
an entire sack of the most spectacular
coloured fruits being emptied out on
the floor in front of you was amazing.
Mauricio explained he was trialling
fermentation in plastic crates verses
the traditional wooden ones. The
fermentation room was a real assault on
the senses; the air was hot and humid
and you could almost taste the acrid
fermentation smell clinging to the air.
From the fermentation room we moved
on to another tour of the farm, trying
2012, it increased by 44% in 2014.
Cacao has a key role to play in reducing
the amount of cocaine produced and
CasaLuker are currently working with
USAID (the US government agency)
to encourage farmers to swap from
growing the illicit coca crops used
to produce cocaine to growing cacao
crops. Both crops grow in very similar
climates and Mauricio explained that
cacao growing can provide a much
safer income. CasaLuker works with
the farmers to graft new saplings
on to old forgotten cacao trees that
many farmers still have on their land.
Grafting is another of Granja Luker’s
success stories. Newer, more hardy
varietals are grafted on to old cacao
In the 50 years since it was established Granja Luker
has trained and provided tools for over 30,000 people
so they can grow cacao.
fresh passion fruit from the vines and
getting the opportunity to plant our
own cacao tree each. We felt like royalty!
Colombia has come a long way
since the Escobar days, but according
to a UN report, although cocaine
production dropped significantly in
22
trees to invigorate them and increase
production. This technique is allowing
hundreds of farmers throughout
Colombia to turn old trees into a good
profitable livelihood. We had a very
swift demonstration from a specialist
who had spent the last 25 years
perfecting his craft; he made it look
easy but we know it is anything but!
CasaLuker also run a scheme
called ‘Model Plot’. The farmer
receives a subsidy from CasaLuker
for plant material and other farm
supplies to improve his or her crop,
as well as free training. In return, the
farmer agrees to convert the farm
into a model to be used to train other
producers. In the 50 years since it was
established Granja Luker has trained
and provided tools for over 30,000
people so they can grow cacao.
That evening we were given a
traditional Colombian meal, followed
by hot chocolate prepared in the
traditional way, by melting 100% cacao
in hot water and adding panela (cane
sugar) before whisking it until frothy.
As we sat on the veranda of the old
colonial-style farmhouse after a long
day it felt like we’d gone back in time,
but it’s clear that CasaLuker is helping
to shape Columbia’s future.
To find out more about CasaLuker visit:
www.lukeringredients.com/en/casaluker
Delicious desserts - all made using ingredients that
would otherwise have ended up in the bin.
Shelf life: waste not, want not
Rob Lowe
Eden serves over 600,000 meals a year so dealing with food
waste is always on the menu.
Stuart Millard’s day begins at
8am. He’s the chef at the Eden
Project’s staff canteen, Link Lodge,
and the first task of the day is to
ensure that Eden’s staff are fed and
watered, which means preparing up
to 130 hot and cold covers: three
vegetarian, three meat. Everything
has to be ready by midday — no
exceptions. Stuart’s team of servers
all pitch in but Stuart is the only
chef in the Link Lodge, the staff
building behind the Biome Link, so
it’s hard graft till midday, at which
point Stuart is more often than not
seen front of house serving too.
Once the last meal has been
served it’s time for one of the most
important tasks of the day — saving
tomorrow’s ingredients from the bin.
It’s inevitable that a place the size of
Eden ends up with a surplus of food.
Predicting exact visitor numbers
and the corresponding demand for
meals is nigh-on impossible, and
the one thing we can’t do is run out.
Running out would mean unhappy
visitors and lost revenue. Menus
also change from season to season.
So, efficient as we aim to be — and
we aim to be efficient — we don’t
always get supply and demand right.
But this is Eden, so none of it goes
to landfill. Ever. That’s where Stuart
comes in. ‘A place Eden’s size which
caters for thousands can easily
provide leftovers for a hundred
covers a day.’
He has shelves in each of the
main catering outlets on site as
well as in our main kitchen, in the
freezer and in our warehouse (the
23
latter is for dry ingredients like
ground almonds). At the end of each
service in the Link Lodge, Stuart
gets on the phone to find out what’s
left over at the catering outlets, and
checks the shelves, and more often
than not that’s what ends up on the
menu at Link Lodge.
Ten kilos of leeks means 3kg
of leek ends — and that’s soup or
any number of other dishes. Ham
sandwiches: Stuart has the meat that
falls out of the slicer and it’s ham and
cheese panini on the menu. The Med
Kitchen produces fresh focaccia every
day — it’s a premium restaurant so
our customers shouldn’t have to
make do with yesterday’s bread. It
goes to the Link Lodge where it’s
transformed into panzella salads or
garlic bread. Devising a hundredcover menu day-by-day isn’t easy, and
adding leftovers and surplus into
the mix makes it tougher: ‘Use-by is
extra pressure,’ he admits. ‘It’s a bit
of rollercoaster, but we’ve never had a
day where we’re scraping the barrel.’
As anyone who has eaten at Link
Lodge can tell you, we’re getting a
first-class menu. Before Stuart took
over, it was known as Link Stodge
— pies, sausages, ham, eggs and
of course chips with pretty much
everything. Now, it comes as no
surprise to find crab paella and wild
boar tortellini on the menu. Sure,
we still have a ‘Sunday Roast’ on a
Tuesday — but it’s a small concession
in what otherwise operates like a
bistro — the day’s menu sourced the
afternoon before, and chalked on
the board ten minutes before it’s
served up.
Up in the Foundation Building,
Amelie Trolle, Eden’s Sustainability
Manager, has made it her mission to
reduce Eden’s waste across the board
and has developed the Wasteline
24
into biofertiliser. Our composter
can only handle so much, so the
remaining third is sent to the
Langage Anaerobic Digestion
facility near Plymouth where it’s
used to generate biogas, electricity
and heat.
Waste has always been a concern
for Eden — our Waste Neutral
campaign encouraged people to
recycle. Wasteline focuses on
reducing the amount of waste we
produce through improving internal
communication and working with
our suppliers to design out waste.
Cleaner waste streams also mean
more can be sent to recycling.
She’s keen to point out that she’s
not a policeman. One of the most
visible aspects of the campaign is
the bins — putting the right thing
in the right bin is harder than
you think. A bin which has a label
that says paper and cardboard can
be contaminated by a disposable
coffee cup; foil that has food on it is
unrecyclable; but a bottle that has
a bit of drink in it can be recycled.
And don’t get her started on coffee
cups — she’s running trials to see
how long our compostable paper
cups actually take to compost. Food
waste is probably the least of her
worries — but it’s not something
anyone can afford to ignore.
Eden has learned a lot over the
years about managing its food waste
— people like Stuart and Amelie
are pioneering new approaches,
but they both agree that they
couldn’t do this stuff on their own.
Tackling food waste at Eden is a
joint effort; everyone pitches in.
Amelie receives ideas for saving
waste — of all kinds — every week
from Eden team members across the
Stuart preparing The Crunch Ambassadors Leftovers Lunch.
A traffic light of smoothies.
campaign to raise visibility and
help staff and visitors minimise
the amount of waste that goes to
landfill. She’s pleased that none
of our food waste ends up in
landfill. Food waste accounts for
12% of Eden’s waste, and about
two thirds of that — the stuff that
Stuart can’t use, which is generally
plate scrapings — goes into our
aerobic digester to be turned
But this is Eden, so none of
it goes to landfill. Ever.
site. It’s something that anyone can
get involved in — and should. With
projected increases in population,
not to mention the greenhouse gases
that are being generated to produce
food which just ends up in the bin,
food waste is an issue that everyone
can help to tackle.
According to the Love Food
Hate Waste campaign, almost half
of the food thrown away in the UK
comes from our homes. That’s 7
million tonnes of food every year,
20 tonnes of unwanted food. The
idea has caught on and there are
more than 50 junk food cafés across
the world. Another global response
to the problem is Disco Soup. Known
as Schnippel Disko (literally ‘scraps
disco’) in its native Germany, Disco
Soup combines unwanted vegetables
from wholesalers, local producers
and food banks with music. People
turn up and pitch in to prepare
dinner (usually soup, though the
French are piloting a Disco Salade
The way I was taught, every part of an ingredient can
be used. They should have a price label attached.
of which 3.5 million is still edible.
So it’s possible to make a difference
— and all it really takes is a bit of
awareness. Already the equivalent of
23 million wheelie bins worth has
been saved by British households,
and campaigns like Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall’s #wastenot are
opening people’s eyes to the amount
of waste we create as a society.
Supermarkets are also waking up to
the reality their customers just don’t
care what shape their parsnips or
carrots are.
Across the UK, community
projects are springing up with the
aim of minimising food waste for
the public good. The Real Junk
Food Café was set up in Leeds by
chef Adam Smith with the aim of
ensuring perfectly edible food ends
up getting eaten by those who need
it most. The Real Junk Food Project
has patrolled the city, getting food
that doesn’t meet supermarket
criteria, or has been rejected by
restaurants, to serve up in their
‘pay-as-you feel’ café. The café has
served over 10,000 people with over
for the summertime). It’s a mixer in
every sense of the word and seems to
be catching on.
For Stuart, this isn’t campaigning,
it’s common sense. Got a load of
kale, bashed up strawberries or
bruised bananas? You’ve got fresh
smoothies and juices. ‘The gardeners
bring me stuff. Corn on the cob,
beans, sweet potato. Freshest produce
you’re likely to get.’ It’s all from
our displays, which can’t be sold for
public consumption, so in it goes.
‘I enjoy doing it. When I was
young the chef who taught me
started by costing-up. From a chef’s
point of view everything should have
£ signs on it. The way I was taught,
every part of an ingredient can be
used. They should have a price label
attached. Say you’ve got a chicken,
the breasts are for your à la carte
menu, you can sell the drumsticks
on a lunch menu, thighs go in a stew
or a curry.’
The Link Lodge menu isn’t just
about leftovers — Stuart has a budget
to buy in things he can’t source. It’s
not a big budget so it requires some
inventiveness. Stuart worked out
that a pig’s head, boiled, pressed and
turned into pulled pork fritters – the
kind of thing that features on high
end menus in London restaurants –
serves eight people at £2 per head.
No one had a clue they’d had pig’s
head. It’s clear that Stuart loves the
opportunity to be creative that Link
Lodge represents — the challenge of
sourcing ingredients and spinning
them into dishes at speed is clearly
addictive. Along with Simon Fooks
and Mike Greer, Stuart produced an
astonishing buffet at a recent event
for The Crunch at Eden — most of
which was made out of leftovers and
things on the cusp of Best Before
Dates. It looked and tasted amazing
— and our apprentices got the chance
to help.
He’s talking to Wing of St Mawes
about buying by-catch including
gurnard, dabs and misshapen
mackerel, and People & Gardens
about using the stuff they can’t sell.
As we’re talking his phone rings. It’s
one of the sous-chefs from the Eden
Kitchen. He’s got more fish than he
reckons he can shift; can Stuart do
something with it? ‘I’ll take a look,’
he promises. ‘People are coming to
me before I even get a chance to ask,’
he grins. Lunch isn’t over and he’s
already planning tomorrow’s menu.
It’s safe to say, no one’s expecting
ham, eggs and chips.
The Eden Project is part of the Wellcome Trust’s
initiative The Crunch. Throughout 2016 people
across the UK will be getting together to talk
about the future of food. For more information
visit: thecrunch.wellcome.ac.uk
25
The Book of Spice : From Anise to Zedoary
John O’Connell
(Profile) £14.99
They’ve raised empires and created legends, they’ve
been used to treat medical conditions, cast spells
and served as status symbols. John O’Connell’s The
Book of Spice: from Anise to Zedoary, is not the first
attempt to chart the history of spices, but it offers a
rattling approach halfway between a gazetteer and an
encyclopaedia, much like the original treatises on the
subject.
Organised alphabetically by spice, it wanders a
path which covers ancient black markets, remedies
against elfin curses (zedoary), and Egyptian tombs.
It draws on a range of disciplines including botany,
the history of medicine and chemistry to turn the
humble spice rack into a vessel of stories, facts and
legends. How did cloves end up travelling from
a remote archipelago in the South Pacific to Syria
in 1700BC – even if it was sold by genies as one
report alleged? Saffron wasn’t just flavouring it was
a hair dye for Venetian women, while ginger was
regarded as a kind of Viagra according to one
Arabic treatise.
At times it bewilders with the sheer range of
information - the entry on sesame covers its use as
26
a magic word in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,
allergies, tahini and the chemical reactions which
occur when it’s heated. Familiar spices such as
ginger and nutmeg are included alongside spices
even the most esoteric cooks are unlikely to have in
their cupboards such as ‘mummia’. More commonly
known as bitumen, it was called ‘mummia’ because
it was used to preserve corpses in ancient Egypt (it
has antifungal and antimicrobial properties). Tombs
were desecrated in 14th and 15th centuries because
it was alleged to have medical properties and it was
later used in paint – when the Pre-Raphaelite painter
Edward Burne-Jones discovered that real, ground-up
mummy was in his ‘mummy brown’ paint, he buried
the tube in his back garden.
It’s a shame there are no illustrations or
photographs – it is easy to imagine it as a coffee table
book - and although meticulous in its bibliography
there is no index, which is a pity for a book as rich and
varied as this, but these are minor quibbles. The Book
of Spice offers a rich and varied history for anyone
curious about the contents of their spice rack.
Robert Lowe
Island Home Tim Winton (Picador) £12.99
Tim Winton is one of Australia’s leading
novelists, twice short-listed for the Man
Booker prize, and four times winner of
the Miles Franklin Award. He is also
an environmentalist who has fronted
campaigns to save Australian wildlife and
habitats from destruction.
Unsurprisingly then, a sense of place
has long been a driving force for his
writing, as he explained to the Sydney Morning Herald: ‘The
place comes first. If the place isn’t interesting to me then I
can’t feel it. I can’t feel any people in it. I can’t feel what the
people are on about or likely to get up to.’ This helps explain
why both volumes of his memoirs (of which this is the second)
foreground the landscape, occasionally at the expense of the
writer’s own life.
Where the first volume, Land’s Edge, explored his
fascination with the coastal landscapes of Western Australia,
Island Home looks inwards – geographically at least – featuring
some of the places that have shaped his outlook as a writer.
Island Home begins with an acute sense of dislocation. During
a sabbatical in Europe Winton found himself struggling to
relate to what he describes as the ‘Old World’ landscapes;
the lack of wilderness led to a sense of confinement, and the
discovery that his 3-year-old son had already forgotten what
home – blue skies and white beaches – looked like, prompted
the family to return to Australia. Vivid as his recollections are,
Island Home is as much about his life as a campaigner as his
life as a writer. It is his account of how Australian companies
and governments have systematically tried to commodify the
landscape as a series of business opportunities – chillingly,
regarding the Great Barrier Reef as a limestone mine in
waiting – that stay with the reader. His own descriptions of a
strange, beautiful and often dangerous landscape lend weight
to his fears that, aided and abetted by climate change, the
already ravaged landscapes of Western Australia, indeed the
whole country, are being damaged beyond repair.
Over 20 years have elapsed since the first volume was
published (but only four since it was first published in the UK),
and Winton is an established figure in the literary world. But
this is a book that is less about the writer than the landscape
that has shaped his work; it is not so much a memoir as an
alarm call. For all that, Island Home is a moving companion
piece to Land’s Edge and essential reading for anyone
interested in our relationship with our planet. Robert Lowe
We have five copies of Island Home to give away just email
[email protected] with the title of Tim Winton’s
first novel.
Sea Journal Lisa Woollett (Zart Books) £14.99
Someone once said that a great
book should leave you with many
experiences, and Sea Journal by
photographer Lisa Woollett certainly
does that.
Woollett records her trips to
beaches of her native Cornwall and
those around the UK, cataloguing and photographing
the places that she visits and the treasures that she finds,
presented as a series of journal entries that take place
across a calendar year.
Woollett is an award-winning documentary
photographer and some of the photographs are so startling
that they look like paintings. They are accompanied
throughout by a thoughtfully creative layout and beautiful
line drawings. The more surprising element of the book,
in what at first glance appears to be a coffee-table art
book, is the poetic prose and engaging storytelling which
accompany each location and discovery, and the depth and
accuracy of information presented, especially in relation
to the marine life that she photographs.
Interesting, inspiring and beautiful to look at, the
book’s evocative storytelling and captivating images can’t
help but stir you to head to your local beach in search of a
washed-up treasure or a stunning sunset. I now have a list
of new beaches I want to visit and I know much more about
the life that lives there.
Emma Fowle
27
Natural Flags
by Pam Horton
Who would have thought that creating a delicately
beautiful plant imprint for flags, bunting or window
hangings requires some pretty hefty (and noisy)
hammering? Well this activity does, and it’s always
met with masses of enthusiasm and energy!
You will need
•
•
•
•
Hammers or rubber mallets
A hard surface, preferably wood like a treestump
White cotton fabric cut into A3 size
Optional: an iron, vinegar and spray bottle
Instructions
• Use a piece of solid wood for the base. Place the fabric
on the wood.
• Collect leaves and petals, stems and flowers. Place them
on one half of the fabric in any design you like. Fold
over the other half of fabric on top of the plant design.
• Use a hammer and gently bash the fabric over the plant
material. Follow the contour of the leaf to get the best
leaf print. As the cell structures are broken, the pigments in the leaf/petals will stain the fabric.
• After bashing, lift the fabric and gently pull off any
stuck leaf pieces. WOW!
• To make the leaf imprint permanent, spray the print
with vinegar and press it with a hot iron.
28
Storytelling
Daily | 12pm and 2pm | Mediterranean Biome
Told by our team of Storytellers in the lovely
surroundings of the Citrus Grove, our tall tales range from
local Cornish folk stories to fables about rainforest plants
all the way from the Amazon, and are sure to delight
young and old alike.
Pukka put the kettle on
Daily | Various times | Pukka Tea Box
The Tea Box is stocked with jars stuffed with beautifully
aromatic herbs. At various times throughout the day, we
brew up samples of Pukka’s 40 herbal blends for you to
taste, while we explain the wonders of amazing plants.
2016 Wellcome Image Awards Exhibition
Wednesday 16 March–Tuesday 31 May | The Core
Twenty ground-breaking biomedical and clinical
images are on display, as part of the worldwide
exhibition run by the Wellcome Trust. Don’t miss this
opportunity to see science from a new perspective, at
the only exhibition of the winning images in the south
west of England.
Evening meals in the Med Terrace Restaurant
Selected evenings from April until the end of October |
Mediterranean Biome
Book a table to enjoy a Mediterranean-inspired meal.
From 6 April 2016, Eden Project Members receive a
10% discount on food and drink purchases in all of
our restaurants and cafés upon presentation of their
membership card. Book a table for an evening meal
online at: www.edenproject.com/med-terrace.
Course: Vegetable growing for beginners
Saturday 14 May | 10am–1.30pm | £30 | Eden Project
Course: Vegetable growing: Level 2
Saturday 21 May | 10am–1.30pm | £30 | Eden Project
29
Game On
Saturday 28 May–Sunday 5 June | Eden Project
Play your way through half-term at Eden, as we celebrate
game playing for all ages. From retro computer games
to traditional favourites, there’s something for every
member of the family.
Course: What to do in the garden in summer
Saturday 2 July | 10am–1.30pm | £30 | Eden Project
Course: Scything for beginners with
Kevin Austin
Friday 10 June | 10am–4pm | £50 | Eden Project
With National Scything Champion Kevin Austin.
Course: Indoor gardening
Saturday 11 June | 10am–1.30pm | £30 | Eden Project
Member Event: People and Gardens tour
Thursday 14 July | 10am–12pm | Watering Lane
Nursery, St Austell
Another opportunity for Members and their guests to
meet the team from People and Gardens, established
in 1997 to assist people with learning disabilities and
mental health issues to develop work and social skills
to enable them to gain control over their own lives.
Through their own experiences the founders understand
that we should all work together to break down barriers
and support each other.
Eden Sessions
Selected dates from 14 June | 6pm–10pm |
Eden Project
Every summer we welcome a stellar line-up of world class
artists to captivate you in front of our magical Biomes.
This year Lionel Richie, Tom Jones, PJ Harvey, Manic
Street Preachers and Jess Glynne are all headlining. For
tickets and line-up latest visit: www.edensessions.com.
30
Dinosaurs - Land, Sea and Air
Saturday 23 July–Sunday 4 September | Eden Project
This summer, Eden is getting ready for its biggest
prehistoric invasion yet. Look out for creatures from
ancient oceanic depths and winged rulers of the skies
which will astound you with their fearsome ways
and jaw-dropping scale. Why dinosaurs? Their massextinction showed the fragility of life, and unlike the
dinosaurs we humans can shape our futures by the way
we act now.
Member Event: Education taster workshop
Wednesday 3 August | 3pm–5pm | Eden Project
Members and guests of all ages are invited to enjoy a
behind-the-scenes experience of one of the interactive
workshops we deliver to thousands of schoolchildren
every year. How do we get over 40,000 children every
year, from toddlers to teenagers,who visit Eden with
their schools, to say that ‘plants are brilliant’? Join
Eden’s Senior Education Programme Developer Bran
Howell for a multi-sensory exploration of how we at
the Eden Project use stories and challenges to hook
children and young people into learning adventures.
Course: The cutting garden (grow your own
cut flowers)
Saturday 30 July | 10am–1.30pm | £30 | Eden Project
Member events
For more detail on upcoming Member events and offers, make sure you are subscribed to our Members’ e-newsletter. To check and
update your details or to book your place on any of our free Member events please email [email protected] or call 01726
811932. All upcoming events and offers are also listed online at www.edenproject.com/get-involved/membership/member-events.
Courses
For more information on any of our courses, or to book your place with your 25% Eden Project Member discount, please email
[email protected] or call 01726 811911. All upcoming courses are also listed online at
www.edenproject.com/gardening-courses.
Eden events and activities
For more detail on event timings or to plan your visits to Eden please go to www.edenproject.com/visit/whats-on or call 01726 811911.
31
Wellcome Image Awards - Swallowtail butterfly
A close-up of the head of a swallowtail butterfly. Butterflies have two big
round eyes for seeing quick movements and two antennae for smelling.
They also have a long feeding tube, which is curled up like a spring here.
This picture is 5 mm wide. Photo: Daniel Saftner, Macroscopic Solutions.