Museum of Edible Earth

• The exhibition explores ‘geophagy’ – the practice of eating earth for health, and customary, or culinary benefit.
• Visitors will be able to sample some earths from the museum’s global collection.
• The Museum of Edible Earth comes to Somerset House for its first UK presentation.
• Somerset House is the first arts organisation to compost its exhibition build and repurpose this within a new exhibition.
• A weekend of workshops and events will take place 17-19 April, in celebration of Earth Day and in response to the Museum of Edible Earth and courtyard commission Serpentine Currents at Somerset House.

Opening in the Terrace Room this March, Somerset House will host the Museum of Edible Earth, for its first UK presentation. Created by artist and researcher masharu, the internationally touring museum, founded in Amsterdam in 2017 brings together over 600 edible samples including clay, chalk, volcanic rock and limestone from over 44 countries.

Following on from SOIL: The World at Our Feet, Somerset House’s acclaimed major 2025 exhibition on the wonders of soil, the Museum of Edible Earth will explore ‘geophagy’ - the practice of eating earth for health, customary, or culinary benefits.

An ancient global practice driven by diverse nutritional, cultural and medicinal factors, geophagy includes the consumption of soil and earth-like substances such as clay and chalk. It offers a unique lens to deepen understanding of cultures and the connection between humans and earth.

At the centre of the exhibition will be a communal tasting table where guided tasting sessions will take place throughout the run.

Visitors have the option to sample specially sourced earth from the museum’s collection. Each sample will be accompanied by a tasting card detailing flavour profiles, mineral content and cultural histories, offering insight into diverse rituals, culinary traditions and healing practices from across the globe. Guests will be encouraged to leave their own tasting impressions on compostable cards, contributing to the evolving archive of the museum.

Drawing inspiration from masharu’s ongoing series The Living Print, Somerset House has worked with the artist to create an ink for the exhibition using natural binders made from Somerset House’s home-grown compost. Under the guidance of The Land Gardeners, co-curators of SOIL, hempcrete blocks - which formed the walls of the SOIL exhibition - were combined with coffee grounds from onsite cafés, WatchHouse and Café Petiole, to make a nutrient-rich compost. The ink created from this compost has been used to screen-print the exhibition title within the gallery space. Museum of Edible Earth is the first show to compost and reuse exhibition build, representing an experimental approach to sustainable exhibition-making and reimagining the lifecycle of materials.

In celebration of Earth Day, the world’s largest environmental event, Somerset House will host a special weekend of programming (Friday 17 – Sunday 19 April) inspired by both Museum of Edible Earth and its spring courtyard commission Serpentine Currents. Coinciding additionally with the opening of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition, which features a selection of awe-inspiring images from the natural world, the weekend will offer an Upgrade Yourself takeover aimed at aspiring 18-30 year old creatives, workshops for families and a chance to explore Somerset House’s Makerversity studios, where designers and makers are inventing solutions to environmental issues every day. Both masharu (Museum of Edible Earth) and Dana-Fiona Amor (artist of Serpentine Currents) will lead workshops across this special Earth Day weekend.

Kinnari Saraiya, curator of Museum of Edible Earth, said:

‘We are excited to continue exploring the wonders of soil at Somerset House by hosting the Museum of Edible Earth. Working on the compost ink commission, inspired by masharu, and produced by Jealous Gallery, is a unique addition to the first UK variation of the museum and signifies a huge achievement towards Somerset House’s sustainability goals.’

masharu said:

‘Somerset House is the perfect venue to host the Museum of Edible Earth, with a track-record in exploring soil and its commitment to sustainability. I hope the UK audience takes an open-minded approach to earth tasting and audiences find the experience as culturally fascinating as the rest of the world has.’

Please note consuming earth is not advised by health professionals. Earth tasting is at the participants’ own risk.