Why Not Mushrooms?

A lot of people ask us why we like mushrooms so much. And that’s surprisingly a difficult question to answer. I’ve found myself thinking “why not mushrooms?” It seems to me a little bit like asking someone why they like food so much, or why they like to hang out with their friends so much. I suppose the answer is simple: because it brings me joy, and I like it.

There doesn’t need to be some life defining purpose to absolutely everything we do, and we’ve been giving ourselves more freedom to do the things that we enjoy, simply because we enjoy doing them.

Mushrooms however do have a slightly more strange appeal to us. They’re mysterious for one thing. I grew up thinking that most mushrooms, if not all wild mushrooms, were toxic and to be avoided. So I was especially interested to learn that many mushrooms can become the star of a dish or totally transform a meal.

Then of course there’s the treasure hunting aspect of it. We love finding treasure hidden away in magic places. A mushroom foray is exactly like following a treasure map to the hidden spot where the unclaimed, sometimes undiscovered bounty lay.

We have been out on many mushroom hunts and can confidently say that we find a new mushroom to us almost every single time. And there are many mushrooms that we have been searching for that have yet to be found by us. There’s always going to be more to learn and more to discover.

We also love cooking together. Bringing home the bounty and cleaning the mushrooms is one of our favorite parts. We listen to music or just talk and scrape all the pine needles and moss off of them. Then we plan recipes and try weird things and then eat it together. If it’s super good, we’ll share it with our friends.

And we do especially love taking friends out there with us. It makes us feel like we’re good at something, and it’s fun to see people light up when they find their first edible shroom. We all usually get to bring home a basket full of free foraged food that we’ve collected ourselves.

I guess pointing to one reason in particular is not possible. All we know is that there is something enchanting about it all. It makes us feel like hobbits exploring the misty mountains. We’re lured to the woods, and the woods are a generous giver.