Why does what I eat matter?

The food we serve in our cafés reflects the stories we tell. Our food is responsibly sourced, fairly traded, single-source, seasonal and/or local and freshly made, often in front of your eyes.

As a major consumer of goods and services, we are committed to spending our money wisely on products that make a difference to the world. We choose our products either because they have a low impact on the environment, a social benefit for the people who produce them or a positive influence on the consumer's lifestyle. 

Our family food came first in the 2022 Soil Association’s league table of healthy children’s food at UK attractions, which ranks the nation's top family attractions according to the healthy eating value of the meals available.

We sort and measure over 20 different waste streams at our on-site recycling facility, enabling us to analyse the data to make decisions about where to focus waste reduction efforts. We make it easy for our visitors to separate their leftovers into our clearly labelled recycling bins, helping them connect with the sustainability story behind their food. 

We work closely with local recycling companies to ensure as much as possible is being recycled into new material or, as a last resort, into energy.

We’re pleased to say our paper cups are made into reusable cups which we sell in the shop, our coffee grounds are turned into fuel pellets and our vegetable oil into biodiesel.  

We also turn kitchen scraps and leftovers from our cafés into compost for our world-famous gardens. An on-site composter converts food waste created here into a nitrogen-rich soil enhancement that our gardeners use to feed their impressive collection of plants.

We’re proud that around two-thirds of our water needs are met by water we collect ourselves. Because we’re situated in a big hole in the ground – a former clay mine – we have set up an underground drainage system that collects all the water coming onto the site, which we use to irrigate our plants and flush our water-efficient loos.  

We also harvest the rainwater that falls on the Biomes to irrigate the plants inside, top up the rainforest waterfall and maintain the high humidity inside.

Our new on-site plant nursery is a demonstrator of regenerative sustainability and circular systems. It has the capacity to produce over a million plants per year.  

Although the nursery is still in the final stages of completion, initial operations began in June 2023. Growing Point will enable our Living Landscapes Team to produce all the plants for the Rainforest Biome, Mediterranean Biome, Outdoor Gardens, our shops and other local suppliers, as well as food for the thousands of visitors that we welcome every year – all in food metres rather than food miles and with little or no packaging.

The nursery will eventually produce over a million plants per year in an energy-efficient, climate-positive way using peat-free composts, recycled and recyclable pots and without pesticides.

We water the plants we grow using rainwater harvested from the roof and held in a dedicated lagoon that is bigger than an Olympic swimming pool!

At the Eden Project we are striving to practically demonstrate what the future of food could look like. As described above, this includes growing food for our restaurants in our geothermally-heated plant nursery metres away from where we serve our customers, and how we recycle our water and food waste, which is part of our journey towards becoming climate positive.

We are the home of an extraordinary global garden, growing many familiar foods from across the planet all in one place. Our incredible collection of plants demonstrates where your everyday ingredients come from, and tell the stories of the impact growing these foods can have on people and the planet. 

With over half a million people passing through our doors every year, we have a rolling programme of events designed to help people of all ages engage with the planetary emergency, offering practical hope for the future. Some of these events specifically focus on food. Find out what's coming up.