I kept my eyes locked on my friend as he anxiously lifted the mug to his lips.
You see, Jason really dislikes mushrooms. Anything just a bit mushroomy at all gives him the creeps, so getting him to try our Bondi Blyss range took a lot of convincing.
“It’s…good,” he said, looking and sounding surprised. He picked up the box and studied the ingredients. “Cordyceps? That’s the zombie mushroom from ‘The Last of Us.’”
“Relax, it’s just fiction,” I insisted. “Jess and I have been drinking it for months.”
But already he was on his phone.
“‘Will cordyceps turn me into a zombie?" he read from the Washington Post. "Not unless you are a fictional character in ‘The Last of Us’ or an insect. In fact, the fungus has a long history of being used as a medicine, and has been utilized in a number of health supplements.’”
A few more websites later, he relaxed into the chai.
“Hey, I'm not the only person searching that,” he said, seeing the amusement on my face. “Plus, with this Vic story… You sure it’s the best time to be launching a mushroom product?”
The ‘Vic story’ had been headline news for weeks. In a small country town in Victoria, five people sat down for a homecooked meal. Days later, three would be dead, a fourth fighting for his life, and the fifth under investigation for potentially poisoning her guests with wild mushrooms. Since the incident, sales of mushrooms were falling nationwide, despite public assurances from industry experts that mushrooms in the commercial food chain were safe. One recent headline read: ‘Why mushies need an image makeover after deadly lunch.’
Mycophobia, the fear of mushrooms, seems to be in a different category altogether than say, the fear of fruit. Maybe it’s something from childhood? There are many poisonous berries and flowers, but it was only ever mushrooms I can remember my parents and teachers warning me of. Mysterious, often deadly, mushrooms feature prominently in all kinds of stories, from fairytales to best-selling fiction writer of all time (Agatha Christie). Even some of our most powerful and revered historical figures, from the emperor Claudius to the Buddha Himself, are believed to have died by a mouthful of mushrooms. There are mushrooms deemed so harmful to us that they have, until recently (ironically, as a prescribed medicine), been outlawed. Add to all this fungi’s association with death and destruction, from the mold we see decomposing foodstuffs to the apocalyptically-destructive ‘mushroom cloud’, the fear of mushrooms makes a lot more sense than the fear of fruit.
“Food. Health. Medicine. Clothing...” I began listing to Jason. “Myco-remediation. Do you know there’s mushroom material we’re now using for packaging instead of Styrofoam? There are mushrooms that can eat plastic. Mushrooms that can help clean up toxic oil spills. There are mushrooms we’re only now discovering that–”
“Alright, alright,” Jason interrupted, stopping me before I really got started. This was a favorite topic, and he knew it. “I get it. Now how about I try the Drinking Chocolate…”
*****
Thanks for reading. In this blog, I hope to share some of what I’m learning and loving about these magical, intelligent lifeforms. Up next: Mushrooms for mental health.