World’s First Vegetable Orchestra, world record set in Vienna, Austria

March 13, 2025

Vienna, Austria--The Vegetable Orchestra (also known as Das erste Wiener Gemüseorchester, The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra) founded in February 1998 in Vienna, consists of ten musicians, one cook, and one sound technician who use instruments made entirely from fresh vegetables; they set the world record for being the World’s First Vegetable Orchestra, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

"The world's first -- and possibly only -- orchestra to exclusively make music from vegetable instruments was awarded a Guinness World Record after playing 344 concerts over the course of 27 years," the UPI reports.

'The 11-piece Vegetable Orchestra formed in Vienna, Austria, in 1999, when musicians of various backgrounds came together with the idea of carving veggies into instruments.

"The performers have now perfected the art of playing with their food. Their instruments include carrots carved into recorders and leeks into mandolins. The orchestra was awarded the Guinness World Record for the most concerts by a vegetable orchestra after playing their 344th show."

"For the last 27 years, the Vegetable Orchestra in Vienna, Austria, has been playing with their food. The 11 musicians that make up this unorthodox band prepare for their concerts by hollowing out carrots and celery, peeling onion skins and cutting aubergines (eggplants), and piling up fresh produce onstage to create their distinctive sounds," the Guinness World Records says.

"Throughout their decade-spanning history cooking up fresh new hits, the band has performed 344 concerts on their veggies, officially becoming the uncontested record holders for most concerts by a vegetable orchestra."

"A touring orchestra using instruments entirely of vegetables just earned itself a world record. The Vegetable Orchestra, which only plays instruments that are carved out of vegetables, earned a Guinness World Record for the most concerts by a vegetable orchestra," the New York Post says.

"The 11-piece orchestra, formed in Vienna, Austria, in 1998, has performed a total of 344 concerts using specially-made instruments, such as a carrot recorder, a cucumberphone, radish bass flute, percussive pieces of eggplant and a leek violin.

"The innovative group is constantly inventing new instruments — and they have to be prepared to improvise, since the vegetables can break or dry out while they are on stage. After their concerts, they even serve the audience soup made of the vegetables they had leftover from preparing the instruments."

"Worldwide one of a kind, the Vegetable Orchestra performs on instruments made of fresh vegetables. The utilization of various ever refined vegetable instruments creates a musically and aesthetically unique sound universe," The Vegetable Orchestra's official website says.

"The Vegetable Orchestra was founded in 1998. Based in Vienna, the Vegetable Orchestra plays concerts all over the world. There are no musical boundaries for the Vegetable Orchestra.

"The most diverse music styles fuse here - contemporary music, beat-oriented House tracks, experimental Electronic, Free Jazz, Noise, Dub, Clicks'n'Cuts - the musical scope of the ensemble expands consistently, and recently developed vegetable instruments and their inherent sounds often determine the direction."

"The Vegetable Orchestra (also known as Das erste Wiener Gemüseorchester, The First Vienna Vegetable Orchestra or The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra) is an Austrian musical group who use instruments made entirely from fresh vegetables.

"The group, founded in February 1998 in Vienna, consists of ten musicians, one cook, and one sound technician. The members of the ensemble are all active in various artistic areas (for example trained musicians, sound poets, sculptors, media artists, designers, and architects) and have worked together on conceptualizing and carrying out their project.

"The ensemble consists of Jürgen Berlakovich, Verena Fuchs, Susanna Gartmayer, Barbara Kaiser, Matthias Meinharter, Jörg Piringer, Ingrid Schlögl, Ulrich Troyer, Stefan Voglsinger, Martina Winkler. The instruments are constructed with carrots, celery, peppers, squash, zucchini and other raw vegetables prior to the performances. Their sound is amplified with the use of special microphones. Following the performances, the leftover vegetables and off-cuts are cooked into a soup for the audience.

"As of March 2019, more than 150 types of instruments had been invented since the band's inception and include carrot xylophones, radish bass flute, pumpkin drums, leek violins, onion maracas, and many others." (Wikipedia)

"The most concerts performed by a group of musicians playing instruments constructed solely from vegetables is 344, achieved by The Vegetable Orchestra (Austria) in venues worldwide from April 1998 to December 2024," the Guinness World Records says.

"The group use a wide range of vegetables to produce their unique sounds, including flutes made from carrots and percussion made from pumpkins.

"The Vegetable Orchestra's tours have taken them from their native Austria to perform in countries including China, the USA, Russia, Denmark and the Netherlands. The group, sometimes referred to as The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, was established in February 2008, and three of the founding members continue to play for the orchestra: Barbara Kaiser, Jörg Piringer and Matthias Meinharter."

"This is Vienna’s Vegetable Orchestra: a 10-piece ensemble from the city of Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart that plays music with instruments made entirely from fresh produce," the BBC reports.

"Over the past 21 years, the group has played nearly 300 shows at packed venues around the globe and performed everything from classical with cabbage to techno with turnips in a rich, rhythmic ratatouille.

"The orchestra recently released its fourth album after a successful ‘Krautfunding’ (‘herb-funding’) campaign and is showing the world that, actually, you can play with your food."