“The urban mushroom”, in Nantes

Camille May and Romain Redais have been producing mushrooms in Nantes city center for five years. Their urban farm, initially located in a disused swimming pool, is now partly installed in an unusual setting, that of an old 19th century chapel, the Martray chapel.

In its infancy, “The Urban Mushroom” produced 10 kg of shiitake (Lentinula edodes, Asian mushroom) per week. Today, 200 kg are harvested at the company’s two sites.

Camille and Romain embarked on the adventure without much agricultural experience but with one objective: “We wanted to bring agriculture back to the city. Mushroom cultivation that takes place above ground and on shelves lends itself perfectly to this. It’s a production that doesn’t take up too much space.”

“On 100 square meters, you can produce 100 kg of mushrooms per week.”

Camille May

at franceinfo

Mushrooms today grow in straw. They could soon be growing in coffee grounds or brewery residue. A great way to recycle waste.

Other mushrooms have come to join the shiitake mushrooms. The “urban mushroom” now produces oyster mushrooms and button mushrooms.

And urban growers intend to expand the range: “People like to eat what they already know, but we want to test other cultures. We are going to cultivate royal oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus eryngii) or poplar pholiota (Cyclocybe aegerita). We would like to offer them to our curious and epicurean customers.”

“Our customers are AMAPs, Nantes restaurants, families…”

Camille May

at franceinfo

Camille and Romain are also keen to make their profession known, and open the old chapel where the mushrooms grow:

“We organize workshops in the evening, visits to the mushroom farm whose setting is always surprising! We have also set up a market on Fridays, with an egg producer, a baker, a mobile grocery store, to welcome all those who want to eat very good things!”

The market is held every Friday evening, from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The opportunity to discover how mushrooms grow, but also to shop for derivative products, launched by the creators of the company, such as 100% mushroom aperitif terrines , or a growing kit to grow your oyster mushrooms at home.