When I see that people are dying from mushrooms my first thought was someone tried to recreate a patch of Eric Roberts' finest shrooms and maybe ingested the wrong kind. You know, the kind where you keep on seeing things that aren't there or that you find yourself at your 10 year high school reunion and wander around looking for your locker that you cannot find. OK, well maybe that was the result of alcohol and a really bad memory.
Anyway, in Italy it is mushroom season and 17 people have died in the last week while trying to gather mushrooms. Most have slipped off hillsides and off cliffs because they are doing all of this at night. Are mushrooms really worth your life? Can't you just order some from a restaurant and keep yourself safe?
The Italians are calling it the mushroom massacre.
Uhm can a MUSHROOMOLOGIST out there explain to us why you need to pick them at night?
ReplyDeleteAlthough I get cravings for fresh chanterelles lightly pan fried in butter, I'm not sure I'd risk my life for them.
ReplyDeletei would NEVER pick at night! mushroom season is early/mid fall and it is slicker than snot (lovely image). i love fresh chantrelles, but i'm going to break my neck to get them!
ReplyDeleteWe used to go into the countryside east of Austin and pick those mushrooms that grow out of cow flops. Magic mushrooms. That was a loooong time ago.
ReplyDeleteMontanaMarriott, they are essentially poaching them. No other reason to go at night in camo-gear.
ReplyDeletePretty good money in it from what I've read.
Wow...Foodies gone wild..!
ReplyDeleteSome mushrooms disappear if it gets too hot during the daytime, don't they?
ReplyDeleteThe moist, cool weather is good for mushrooms but bad for traction, apparently.
I thought this situation was because the mushrooms have been plentiful and trendy, and non-experts were getting out there in unfamiliar areas along hillsides and cliffs.
crazy, i just bought a shiitake kit yesterday...so much better to forage in the safety of your own kitchen!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I don't eat 'em.
ReplyDeleteI want some magic mushrooms! Love those things. Been an few years. Ahh, good memories...
ReplyDeletei know for a fact they have facking markets in italy. come on.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess I'm safe. I will NEVER die from a mushroom ever, unless it is hidden in food. That is the biggest piece of useless food next to an onion.
ReplyDeletejax, those are the people supplying the markets and such.
ReplyDeleteA mushroom expert is called a "mycologist" and these people are probably poaching for truffles.
ReplyDeletePeople do not go out at night to pick mushrooms -I am Italian and my dad's family was very serious about the mushrooms season.
ReplyDeleteThe reasons behind this are many and some of you already mentioned most of them:
a) the sequence of hot weather, rain, hot weather, rain etc [you've got the idea] has made for a great shroom season especially in Northern Italy so loads of people who have probably never set foot in a wooded area are now hunting the woods searching for the stuff.
b) it's indeed true that families and individials treasure their "spots", places where they believe mushrooms will sprout year after year with the right amount of moisture and heat - so they tend to go early in the morning - but i'm talking 5 am not 1.30 am. and it's summer here now, so it's light outside by then
c) some of the casualties were due to elderly people wanting to go alone [sometimes i wonder where are the families of these poor people] and getting lost in the woods and unable to return home
d) lastly, and this is sad, sometimes people just over-exert themselves after months of no-training or exercise and might get a stroke. This indeed happened to a close friend of our family last friday - he was only 70 years old, very lively, active with his family and very healthy [or at least we thought so] who came back from a mushroom walk and had died of a heart attack just after reaching home.
i agree with most of you that it's just not worth it when you can get your mushroom fix at the restaurant, but for this people it's just like telling them to stay home and watch the game on tv when they have great tickets to the superbowl. it's that serious for them.
sorry for rambling on a bit - ciao ciao from Italy!
Mushrooms, one of my very favorite foods! I love them but would be afraid to pick and eat wild 'shrooms. I once knew a woman whose husband (years ago, like in the 1930 or '40's) lost his entire family to poisoned mushrooms. They picked them and cooked 'em up and ate them and he disliked mushrooms so he passed on them, and his whole family (some aunts/uncles/cousins included) died and he was left an orphan. I'll buy mine from the supermarket, thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks L! Enjoyed your comments.
ReplyDelete