Anyone know anybody who has eaten the wrong mushroom ever?

[demographic]

One of my brothers has felt a bit poorly after eating a really nice ink cap with a couple of glasses of wine.

Hardly life threatening though.

 

[Geoff Dann]

I just wouldnt bother with them, as they have no nutritional value...

They don't have "no nutritional value". Just because they aren't packed with carbohydrates doesn't mean they aren't a worthy part of a balanced diet. Plus some of them taste great, and are interesting food.

And has been said, if leading expert ethnobotanists like Gordon hillman can get it wrong anyone can.

That's not quite fair, for two reasons.

Firstly, Gordon Hillman didn't get anything wrong. It was somebody-else's mistake. Some other academic - a mycologist - identified them, and then there was some sort of mix up by technical staff. The result was that Hillman was told they were something edible when in fact they were something poisonous - fortunately something with muscarine in it rather than an amatoxin. Muscarine at least has an antidote. Hillman's only mistake was trusting somebody else - or somebodyS else - with his own life, when it turned out whoever he trusted wasn't reliable.

Secondly, there's lots of edible wild fungi and they range from "almost idiotproof" to "very easy to confuse with something deadly, so experts only." The key to not getting into trouble is to know where on that scale the fungi you are thinking of eating is, and where on the scale between "almost idiot" and "expert" you are.

I find the Nicholas Evans case much scarier than Gordon Hillman.

I mean, how can somebody think this

is this

??

I can only assume that he'd been with somebody who picked some penny buns somewhere, then at a later date went back to the same location, found the Cortinariuses, and just assumed they were the same fungi without paying the slightest bit of attention to what they actually looked like. Either that or he was very drunk indeed.

 

[Joonsy]

I have a friend who mistakenly ate a yellow stainer, it made him ill with stomach pains and the loo saw more of him than usual however reitirating the experience on tv might be more embarrassing than it was painful . Perhaps they could use the example of Lewis Carroll who wrote the book Alice in Wonderland after eating the Fly Agaric mushroom.

 

[Limaed]

They don't have "no nutritional value". Just because they aren't packed with carbohydrates doesn't mean they aren't a worthy part of a balanced diet. Plus some of them taste great, and are interesting food.




That's not quite fair, for two reasons.

Firstly, Gordon Hillman didn't get anything wrong. It was somebody-else's mistake. Some other academic - a mycologist - identified them, and then there was some sort of mix up by technical staff. The result was that Hillman was told they were something edible when in fact they were something poisonous - fortunately something with muscarine in it rather than an amatoxin. Muscarine at least has an antidote. Hillman's only mistake was trusting somebody else - or somebodyS else - with his own life, when it turned out whoever he trusted wasn't reliable.

Secondly, there's lots of edible wild fungi and they range from "almost idiotproof" to "very easy to confuse with something deadly, so experts only." The key to not getting into trouble is to know where on that scale the fungi you are thinking of eating is, and where on the scale between "almost idiot" and "expert" you are.

I find the Nicholas Evans case much scarier than Gordon Hillman.

I mean, how can somebody think this

is this

??

I can only assume that he'd been with somebody who picked some penny buns somewhere, then at a later date went back to the same location, found the Cortinariuses, and just assumed they were the same fungi without paying the slightest bit of attention to what they actually looked like. Either that or he was very drunk indeed.

Geoff, I think this is the conversation / radio interview: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/1000271/

 

[Countryman]

Do you know what? Even if I did I wouldn't help a "programme maker". Guaranteed you would at best be made to look like a Twerp and at worst help the media paint Bushcraft as on the lunatic fringe, prepping for the Zombie Apocalypse by foraging off the land.

After all every latte swilling Hack knows mushrooms can be bought quite safely from any local convenience store don't you know?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dwardo]

No chance of me ever eating the wrong mushroom....... Because they are all bloody awful. :tongue-ti

 

[Toddy]

I'm the opposite; I love mushrooms as food and I use them as dye and as fire aids

I wish I knew more so that I could safely eat a wider variety of them.
They are good food, they are tasty food, rich in texture and interest.
Many of the preserve well too and that extends the season very well indeed.

M

 

[Goatboy]

I used to know some "new age" folk who were heavily into taking mind altering substances and one particularly manipulative individual was tryin to bully others into going n an hallucinogenic quest by taking Amanita muscaria. I tried warning my friend off of it as as far I as was aware 1 in 100 of the blighter could be fatal - you know better. I pointed out the story of Rudolf the Red Nosed reindeer in fable was probable based in truth about reindeer eating them and behaving in strange ways - leaping about almost flying.

Maybe again historical stuff about whole villages appearing to go mad in the middle ages being attributed to Claviceps
and ergotism where the "Hospital Brothers of St. Antony" became famous in treating victims.

Don't actually know of anyone (touch wood) who has actually fallen foul of them yet.

 

[GGTBod]

I'm with you there Toddy I love to eat all different types of fungi, can't seem to get my fill of Shiitake, Enoki and Black Fungus lately

 

[Geoff Dann]

Geoff, I think this is the conversation / radio interview: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/1000271/

Right. So somebody told him "there are ceps up there", so he went up there and picked a load of mushrooms that don't even remotely look like penny buns (ceps) and ate them, only to discover later that this person calls all brown mushrooms "ceps". It really does border on unbelievable.

 

[dwardo]

I'm the opposite; I love mushrooms as food and I use them as dye and as fire aids

I wish I knew more so that I could safely eat a wider variety of them.
They are good food, they are tasty food, rich in texture and interest.
Many of the preserve well too and that extends the season very well indeed.

M

Sorry should have been more specific. My dislike only runs to mushrooms as food. Good for lots of other things.
I believe a scientist is trying to use a certain fungi to make biodegradable packaging.
I do have a great appreciation for them as an organism too.

 

[Geoff Dann]

I know a guy who did yeah. Can't see him wanting to make a public spectacle of himself though unless they plan on paying very large fees.

The bloke from the Beeb says:

[FONT=&quot][/FONT] [FONT=&quot]"It would be fantastic if you could ask the chap you got in contact with to forward us the details of the guy he knows? We really want to try and highlight the dangers of mushroom foraging in the hope of preventing untrained people from causing themselves or anyone else (especially the elderly or children whose bodies may not be strong enough to prevent irreparable harm or even survive the toxin) from eating deadly mushrooms. We would be able to offer expenses for travel and lunch. [/FONT]"

 

[oldtimer]

For what it's worth:

In France, local pharmacies will identify fungi as part of their service. Fungi identification forms part of their professional training, apparently. I have to admit to having taken advantage of this: I mind survival advice given years ago that the food value of fungi is not sufficient to warrant taking a risk. Personally, I only ever eat fungi foraged in company with an expert i know and trust and only then with trepidation.