Another mushroom fatality

[beachlover]

Mother in her forties dead down here having eaten mushrooms picked by her daughter who is now seriously ill in hospital.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article4776387.ece

When will people learn......?

 

[gregorach]

Your link's messed up: Woman dies after eating mushrooms picked at Ventnor Botanical Gardens.

 

[Tony]

Very sad, I saw this earlier and thought about how much knowledge we've lost, even the caution we should have.

It's weird how people shy away from some things and not others...

 

[spamel]

They were either incredibly naieve or incredibly stupid. It really is a minefield out there when it comes to 'shrooms, why take a risk? What did they think they had anyway? They couldn't have been using a field guide of any sort, and obviously knew zero about 'shrooms. Would they play with a loaded pistol if they didn't know how to use it?

I hope she pulls through, but as I said before, i doubt it. Supposedly she is stable now, I heard that people who eat Death Cap show signs of recovery before carking it. I hope I'm proved wrong.

 

[gregorach]

It's a bit of a strange one right enough - Death Cap the most common cause of fatal mushroom poisoning all over Europe, yet I really can't see what you could mistake it for. I can only assume that some people just pick anything that looks like a mushroom. Even in countries with well-established traditions of mushroom harvesting, where you'd expect things like "don't eat the amanitas" to be drilled into kids early on, people still eat them with alarming regularity.

 

[Shewie]

The increasing number of people who are picking the wild `shrooms probably think that the chances of picking something fatal in this country are virtually nonexistent. So they end up picking anything except the infamous fly agaric or any other brightly coloured fungi.

 

[gregorach]

Yeah, I can see that explanation working for the UK, but it doesn't explain the much higher rate of fatalities in other countries with strong traditions of mushroom picking, such as in Russia and Eastern Europe...

 

[Bushwhacker]

I heard that people who eat Death Cap show signs of recovery before carking it..

Correct

This is generally the case, the patient will feel better after the initial unwell feeling and that's when the poison really kicks in.

 

[firecrest]

apparently it tastes delicious as well

 

[woodstock]

apparently it tastes delicious as well

I'll take your word for that

I wonder how long it will be before it is illegal to pick wild mushrooms

 

[spiritofold]

Going on a mushroom id course is something i'd like to do.

There are 5 types i know for definate, birch polypore, crampball, jews ear, fly agaric and deathcap. This list in my head is pisspoor, and i should know more with the amount of time i spend in the woods!

Its a case of "if im not going to eat them i dont see any reason to know what it is"

But, i really should learn whats out there, just for the sake of knowing the answer when my kids ask!

Andy >>>>>---------------------------------------<>

 

[fishfish]

very sad ,but this is exactly why ime apposed to the river cottage machine makeing spotters guides! mushrooming is just too dangerous to the amateur. i wont pickanything other than giant puffs and normal mushrooms.

 

[Wayland]

Yeah, I can see that explanation working for the UK, but it doesn't explain the much higher rate of fatalities in other countries with strong traditions of mushroom picking, such as in Russia and Eastern Europe...

I think it just be an example of what that nice Mr Darwin was going on about meself.

apparently it tastes delicious as well

Now Apicius, the great Roman gourmet apparantly killed 'imself with a poisoned meal, an I've always wondered what 'e would have chosen from all the poisonous things e could have used.

'E was a great one fer eatin odd stuff.

I'll take your word for that

I wonder how long it will be before it is illegal to pick wild mushrooms

Arrr.. that be the sad truth. Won't be long before some lubber comes along an says that the wild is too dangerous for the likes of sheeple an they'll fence it all off.

 

[fishfish]

dont even jest!

 

[gregorach]

Hmmmm.... I don't quite see it myself - picking wild mushrooms is big business. I could see someone deciding that it should be restricted to licensed pickers only though... Me, I'd like to see tighter restrictions on commercial harvesting.

Still, without wishing to promote disrespect for the law: how would anyone enforce such a scheme? If you can't get caught, it's no big deal.

 

[firecrest]

I picked some shaggy inkcap on friday, which are a very recognisable species. I sugested cooking them, explaining to my mother how they were most definately shaggy ink caps (one was already disolving) and she made a noise like a cat being trod on and begun wailing that "someone has died this week doing that DIIIIEEED!!! do you want to die too??!!"
Just because somebody died doesnt make it more likely that everybody else is going to as well. Its mass hysteria. While Im not much of a fungus expert, Im meticulous with identifying things and wouldnt feel happy eating anything other than an ink cap or puffball.
My mother never went on holiday abroad for 35 years because of her fear of planes crashing. she then begun collapsing all over the place for no reason. The doctor diagnosed anxiety (we could have told her that years ago) he put her on these pills and a few weeks later she went to greece, then Ibiza and partied all night, unfortunatley she had to come off the pills which is a shame because she was getting alot more out of life whilst she was on them!
Thank god Im almost moved out...

 

[Wayland]

I had a risotto on Friday night made with Amethyst Deceivers, you should have shown her those, they're bright blue and just look wrong!

They taste great though....

 

[firecrest]

I had a risotto on Friday night made with Amethyst Deceivers, you should have shown her those, they're bright blue and just look wrong!

They taste great though....

Id never hear the end of it if I scared her like that!!!

 

[njc110381]

It's a sad story that. I'm no pro on the subject, I wouldn't even trust myself to pick a regular mushroom! I've started learning on fungi courses recently, and I'm happy with the ink cap and puffball too. There's nothing else like either of them once they've aged enough to be obvious

 

[crwydryny]

this is why I tend to advoid wild mushrooms unless I can positivitly identify them. and even then I use a lot of caution and double and even tripple check them in myt field guide