“Mycotourism” is the act of traveling the world to identify, and possibly to eat, mushrooms in exotic lands. It is a mixture between citizen science and gastronomic pleasure that is not all that different than bird hunters traveling to, say, Guatemala in search of the exotic Quetzal.
However, the bird hunters don’t eat their prey.
Mycotourism has gained considerable popularity in the last two decades. Its beginnings were as simple as people hiring guides in Italy to hunt truffles. Excursions like these would inevitably end with some fine wine and truffle-covered appetizers in someone’s delightful home or in an Agritourismo Inn, rural Italian inns serving food grown on their own land as well as providing lodging to guests.
Today, you can also hire local guides to escort a group into the woods just about anywhere in the United States, or you can join expeditions to international locations such as Colombia, Tibet, Ecuador, Bolivia, Italy, Turkey, and even Mexico. The later location, in the mountains west of Mexico City, at a place called Valle de Bravo, is where I recently returned from a wonderful, rainy, mid-summer excursion filled with exotic mushroom discoveries, accompanied by Mexican mycologists as well as chefs from Mexico City. Mexico City has gained popularity recently in the worldwide press with its restaurant scene fusing French, Italian, and other cuisines with traditional Mexican fare, often with mushrooms added. There is even one restaurant that brews 15 kinds of mushroom-infused beers.
We were led to Valle de Bravo by Zak and Kim, proprietors of a three-year-old company “Fungivore” that leads trips to Oaxaca and central Mexico with a heavy emphasis on mushroom dishes, Mexican cuisine, and the use of natural mushroom dyes for weaving. Fungivore teamed up with the North American Mycological Society (NAMA) which is the country’s largest mushroom organization. They sponsor a big annual foray each year and have recently been sponsoring local, regionalized, ones of which this Mexico trip was a good example.
Zak and Kim led us into forests controlled by the local Mazahua people. Mexico, it is said, is actually a country composed of 65 other countries. Over time the government is increasingly recognizing the indigenous rights, heritage and control that local peoples have over their lands; regions they have lived in for centuries.
The Mexican government recognizes 68 distinct languages, a surprising fact if you are still trying to get your own Spanish under control. Their words and sounds are completely different than that of the Latin-based language of Spanish and it adds to the shear exoticness of traveling there. One of the reasons we visited the Mazahua is because they regularly include about 60 different kinds of mushrooms in their diet. An astounding number.
The Mazahua women spend great amounts of time crafting and making colorful dresses that they wear in their day-to-day activities, and which are distinctive in the country. Before we were allowed to enter their woodlands to photograph and pick mushrooms, we were each individually blessed with frankincense while they asked permission of the forest to let us enter. This was a sincere display of respect and not one just put on for tourists. It even brought tears to some of our eyes. The areas we went into are only just beginning to see any tourism at all. It is a new and healthy activity that may bring badly needed commerce to the Mazahua, as well as exposing them, and us, to their traditions and cultures.
Some of the species we found do not exist in our northern part of North America. Mexico, as you may recall, is also part of North America. It is simply the southern portion of it. Some of the species we found have not yet been named by science. One exotic, and recently very popular mushroom we found was a Cordyceps mushroom. You may recall the recent movie ‘The Last of Us’ where these fungi were taking over the world? In actuality, these parasites spend literally millions of years developing the ability to infect just one specific species of insect which they attack and kill. In this case, a local beetle species. Another absolutely beautiful mushroom we found was a Tylopilus, from the Porcini family, with very brilliant lilac-colored pores under its cap. It is, as of yet, an unnamed species. We also found a very robust and distinctive species of Leccinum, another mushroom from the large Porcini family, with its scurfy brown stem; also an unnamed species at this time. All of our finds are being sent out for DNA analysis to learn what species they actually are, or if we stumbled upon a brand new one.
Our group included Mexican mycologists as well as a number of chefs. Joaquin, for example, spent a dozen years in Paris cooking at a Michelin star restaurant and made some phenomenal mushroom filled tamales. His restaurant, ‘Loup Bar’ in Mexico City, offers a variety of mushroom dishes paired with wines. Another restaurant, Expendio de Maiz focuses on the many uses of corn in Mexican cuisine. They do not offer a menu. Instead, they say that if you go to someone’s house for dinner, you would never be offered a menu, so they also do not offer one. The way they operate is to bring alternating vegetarian and meat dishes to your table, some including mushrooms, and you simply tell them when to stop serving once you are full; it is delightful.
Mycotourism adventures can be joined through Mushroaming where Daniel Winkler offers trips to Colombia, Bolivia, Bhutan and Tibet. He has taught people in Bhutan to collect King boletes that were traditionally believed to be poisonous. Whatscookin’ is another company, based in Italy, (). They offer mushroom hunting and food tours in Sicily, Tuscany and Piedmont, often including some memorable wine ‘research’, so to speak. Britt Bunyard works with them and is offering a tour of his own to Turkey this coming October. Yes, Turkey has forests, mountains, and fungi! And finally, there is our local Cristiano Bonino, a native Italian living in Somerville, MA, who's company, Food.Stories.Travel offers truffle hunts, food & bicycle tours in the Piedmont, Tuscany and all over Italy. We attended the famous Alba Truffle Festival with him where the whole city celebrates a two week long party with medieval festivities, and a joyous atmosphere.
So, if you are interested in a theme-based vacation filled with exotic and interesting foods and people, consider joining in on a mycotourism adventure of your choice. There are many options to choose from. Or think about subscribing to Fungi Magazine where many of these mycotourism adventures are advertised. Add mushrooms to your next home-cooked meal and consider using a species you have never tried. Who knows, you might just love it.
Gary Gilbert is a member of the Executive Committee of the Boston Mycological Club and is chairing the upcoming Northeast Mycological Federation (NEMF) conference to be held in Hyannis on Oct. 11-14, (www.nemf.org). He is also the author of “Mycocards”, flashcards for learning mushroom identification (www.mycocards.com).
