Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by the number of people and businesses that embrace fungi as a food source and as an alternative material; for their medicinal qualities and their role in the natural world; and the shared joy they bring through foraging, cultivating, cooking and eating.
Our story
Fat Fox Mushrooms was born out of founders Ben and Lex's burning passion to share their love for the fungi kingdom! For many years Ben has been fascinated with the world of fungi. Whether it be spending time foraging wild mushrooms in the Finnish forest or carrying out his own mushroom experiments, he always had one foot in the fungi world. In 2020, when the world went into lockdown Ben and Lex decided to join forces and come up with a creative way to share the joy of mushroom cultivation with a wider audience.
With the help of a grant of £500 from the council they provided 100 free kits to local residents to grow their mushrooms at home and share their experiences, and so Fat Fox Mushrooms was born. They began selling home-grown mushrooms to friends and neighbours at a stall outside their studios, and since then they have continued to grow, harvest and package every aspect of the process to ensure that each product is handmade and personal.
Fat Fox Mushrooms' urban mushroom studio in Tottenham, London now offers: mushroom growing kits, mushroom cultivation workshops & online courses, fungi-inspired artwork and mushroom extracts which can be used to improve health and wellbeing. They also continue to partner and collaborate with others; especially those within the fungi-loving community. For example, recently for Markfield Road Festival 2023, Fat Fox Mushrooms helped to create 'The Mushroom Lab'; an art installation at local space Unit 3 N15 exploring the many uses of fungi, in collaboration with urban landscapers Wild City Studios and sound artist Brian d'Souza.
We have also established a social enterprise, 'The Fungi Club'. As a social enterprise, The Fungi Club can receive different funding pathways, setting up mushroom growing spaces at community gardens, allotments and schools, to help connect people with nature and sustainable food systems as a means of developing individual wellbeing and community cohesion.
Our advice
The importance of collaboration. There are lots of opportunities for collaboration with people who are really fascinated by fungi and fungi growing.
Understand your different funding routes. Fat Fox Mushrooms is a business with a social enterprise, 'The Fungi Club'. In combination, and through different revenue streams, we can continue to provide community-led fungi and mushroom cultivation through events, workshops and growing projects.
