At the end of a show which includes decorative ceramics glazed with evaporated human urine, serving bowls made from used toilet paper and a comté cheese cultured by bacteria in Heston Blumenthal’s pubic hair, the V&A is offering its visitors canapés.

And they are tasty. Who knew a mould discovered in the soil of Harlow would go so well with tomatoes too ugly for shops and restaurants?

The V&A will open a major exhibition on Saturday exploring the story of food and how people are reinventing how we grow, distribute and experience it.

The museum’s director, Tristram Hunt, said the V&A wanted to take visitors on “a sensory journey through the food cycle” from compost to table.

The show, which is three years in the planning, includes things the museum has never done before, including asking celebrities for their bacteria. “I did let down the curators,” Hunt admitted. “In the end I couldn’t face signing the letter to David Attenborough saying: ‘Can we make cheese with your feet?’ I felt it was not suitably respectful of a national treasure.”

Personalised canapés made to order at the V&A. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

There was no such queasiness about getting samples from the pubic hair of Blumenthal for a comté, or the belly button of Professor Green for a mozzarella, or the nose of Guardian columnist Ruby Tandoh for a stilton, and the cheeses will quietly develop in front of visitors.

Elsewhere, mushrooms are growing on upright beds that include coffee grounds from the V&A’s cafe. When they are fully grown, the mushrooms will go back to the cafe.

The canapés are provided by the Center for Genomic Gastronomy and are made to order once visitors choose three of their food priorities from a 15-strong list. So an “efficient, affordable and zero-waste” canapé was made from cucumber, tomato, mould microprotein, dried anchovy and indian salad hydroponically grown in Clapham.

The exhibition is showing about 70 projects and commissions, often involving artists and designers.

Mushrooms growing on upright beds. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

They include the designer Carolien Niebling, whose project explores sausages, asking what they might look like in the future; Nienke Hoogvliet, whose Waterschatten range of products is made from reclaimed used toilet paper; and Sinae Kim, who has created human bladder-shaped vessels glazed with some of the 280 litres of human urine she collected over five months.

Her aim is to show that urine can be a sustainable alternative to the metal oxide glazes commonly used in the ceramics industry.

The artist Laura Wilson’s project is about Veda bread, a dark brown savoury malt loaf which lights up the faces of people from Northern Ireland but leaves others generally baffled.

The bread was invented 100 years ago by a Scotsman and it became popular all over the UK because it was nutritious and had a long shelf life. Today it can only be found in Northern Ireland and Wilson, with a new recipe, is on a mission to popularise it more widely, working with a network of bakeries and galleries.

The project reflects Wilson’s interest in trade and labour and how things are passed on, but also her passion for Veda bread. “I love it. I remember the first time I devoured a loaf. I think I was 11 and I remember it very well. It tastes really good and I want more people to enjoy it.”

• Food: Bigger Than the Plate is at the V&A 18 May-20 October.