Mushrooms

[poliphilo]

There are lots of mushrooms in the fields- and I look at them and see a free dinner going to waste. I asked Matthew if he knew the difference between an edible mushroom and a poison one and he told me about eating a dish of field mushrooms prepared by someone who was supposed to know what they were doing and then noticing that the faces of the people around him had started to melt. The symptoms persisted for three months- and included a permanent migraine.  Oddly enough, the person who prepared the mushrooms- and ate them too- suffered no ill effects.

OK- point taken. 

Comments

[resonant.livejournal.com]

I bought mushrooms from an agricultural research facility. Spent an evening vomiting. Even the experts might not catch a bad one.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's really not worth taking the risk.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Mushrooms are REALLY tricky and I wouldn't mess with any wild ones. That said, my dad used to go out looking for morels all the time...but that's one specific kind.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I presume he knew exactly what he was looking for- no room for doubt or margin for error.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Yes, he did know and I'm still alive to prove it.
:D

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Mm, that's exactly why (well, the risk of poisoning, and in a particularly cruel and painful manner) I've never attempted picking and eating wild mushrooms. There are some which are pretty safely identifiable, but with so many - no, I'm up for many gastronomic experiences, but I'd find it difficult to believe even the most heavenly sensation would be worth the risk of the big sleep.

That said, why are shiitake so much more expensive than chestnut? *sigh* (But then, quite a lot of the former seem to be brought in from China, which seems inexplicable to me. Surely they're not as finicky to cultivate as truffles? But then, the UK seems to be heading toward a post-agricultural society, with even hops under serious threat)