How Chipotle Cut a Track at Abbey Road Using Real Vegetables as Instruments

Playing an onion bass in the studio where the Beatles recorded 'Glass Onion'

So, this is what real food sounds like.

Brands record theme songs all the time. But it’s not every brand that hires the London Vegetable Orchestra to play their tune. Which is exactly what Chipotle Mexican Grill did with “From Ground to Sound.”

The song, available on Spotify and Apple Music, celebrates the fresh ingredients used by the chain. So, the musicians fashioned corn into flutes, jalapeños into trumpets and peppers into horns—with lettuce providing percussion and an onion bass.

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Chipotle and its creative team had debated the benefits of crafting a song to reinforce brand recall and recognition, according to Icaro Doria, founder and CCO at the KIDS agency. But the execution had to stand out and strongly reinforce the chain’s use of real food. Such ambitions led to the LVO, a British ensemble that famously makes music with hand-carved vegetables.

In addition to commissioning Beacon Street Studios to compose “From Ground to Sound,” KIDS tapped director Fenn O’Mealley of Smuggler to create a video that includes footage from the recording session, held at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios.

Here, Doria gets to the root of the project:

How did the London Vegetable Orchestra get on your radar?

We came across the London Vegetable Orchestra’s TikTok page. Chipotle’s team and KIDS thought they were great, and we had a brief chat. Things evolved. The music idea evolved. And here we are.

How did the Vegetable Orchestra prepare for this gig?

The music was being composed at the same time the instruments were being created, and they had to learn to play with vegetables they weren’t used to and perform a song they were just learning. They are all classically trained musicians. So, it was a very natural process for them.

Why was it important for you to book the recording session inside Abbey Road? What was it like recording there?

As the musicians were in London, it became obvious to go to Abbey Road. Walking into Abbey Road studios is magical. It might sound corny—no pun intended—but it is true. The space itself is taken by music history. Everywhere you look is taken by historical posters, photos, instruments and beyond. The recording equipment is the same from the ’60s and ’70s. The studio in which the Beatles recorded “Glass Onion” was then being used to record an actual onion.

What did you have to take into consideration given that the musicians were playing vegetable instruments?

Mainly, that vegetables are very temperamental. If one corn is out of tune, you need to rethink the entire key in which the song should be played. And boy oh boy, that corn went out of tune several times.

Was there anything notable about how the musicians transported or cared for their vegetable instruments?

All the instruments were very fresh. They have to be. Soggy veggies don’t play well. So, what happened is that we had to replace the instruments [at times] for freshly made ones. During downtime, we kept the instruments in the fridge.

Were some instruments prone to getting soggy faster than others?

Oh, they all went through several instruments.

If you had to choose a favorite veggie instrument, what would it be?

I personally don’t like raw onions, but the onion sounded amazing.

What kind of reaction have you gotten to this work?

Joy. It’s the word most commonly used about “From Ground to Sound.” It makes us KIDS happy, for sure.

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