We spoke with the OmVed team about why they chose this electricity-free, earth-based way of food storage, and what a year of daily use has taught them.
Your entire project revolves around ecological transformation and the connection between humans, food, and the earth. How does the Groundfridge fit into that?
At OmVed, food is central — from the vegetable garden to the kitchen. Chef Josephine Marchandise and her colleagues run what they call a "regenerative and creative" kitchen, which uses mostly what the garden produces. That way of working structurally demands more storage space — not just during harvest, but also for everything that is preserved and stored for later.
A conventional cooling system feels like a compromise in that context: it requires constant power, doesn't align with the project's philosophy, and simply offers too little space for the quantities a garden of this scale yields. The Groundfridge, on the other hand, fits seamlessly with how OmVed already works: drawing on principles that predate the electric refrigerator and making them usable again for a modern urban project.
What do we find on the shelves on an average day?
Shelves full of what was harvested just a few metres away. Food like: jars of pickled vegetables, purple potatoes, fermented vegetables and green walnuts, just starting the brining process.
It serves as storage for the harvest, for the provisions the kitchen uses during supper clubs and workshops, and for everything the team preserves to ensure nothing goes to waste.
(Fermentation as a preservation technique deserves its own story — we will return to this in more detail in a future blog post.)
How does the temperature inside the Groundfridge behave at your location?
According to Marchandise, the temperature inside generally stays between 8°C and 15°C — even during heatwaves. That is precisely what OmVed benefits from most: a stable, predictable environment, without the fluctuations caused by a door opening all day long. She calls it a solution that provides "more space, with less stress".
Apparently, your cellar attracts more attention than expected?
Indeed. Visitors, schoolchildren, and workshop participants are so curious about the door in the flowerbed that staff had to put up a "staff only" sign to prevent people from walking right in. According to Marchandise, the reaction from students during tours is always the same: first surprise, then asking why every garden, schoolyard, or community garden doesn't have one.
That educational effect is perhaps just as valuable as the cooling function itself. A cellar that draws on an age-old principle — the ice houses of country estates, the root cellars from before the electric refrigerator — becomes a tangible teaching moment at OmVed about how ancient knowledge remains relevant for tomorrow's city.
What advice would OmVed give to other ecological projects?
For OmVed it is — although according to the team, it is primarily a good match for those who are already engaged in permaculture, seasonal cooking, and closing the loop.
It requires space and dedication, which is precisely why it suits a project like this so well. For OmVed, it is an investment that quickly proved its worth.
Photography: Elsa Pearl
