Translator: omar idmassaoud Reviewer: Max Chevaugeon
What sort of words do you think of when I say
mushroom?
Perhaps decay or poison.
Unless, you're a little strange like I am.
I don't expect you're thinking of excitement or beauty,
and unless you're thinking of the infamous "I'm a fun guy" pun,
I don't expect you're thinking of fun either.
(Laughter)
Well it may come as surprise
but it doesn't take much for anyone
to fall in love with the magic of mushrooms.
Before I go any further
I'm going to apologize to any hippies that may be listening.
This is perhaps not the magic mushroom talk
that you're expecting.
Let me explain:
around four years ago a book caught my eye
about mushroom identification with the strangest book cover I've ever seen.
(Laughter)
I knew that I was not as excited about mushrooms as the man on this cover was
but I was curious what exactly he was so excited about.
So I picked up the book and gave it a read,
and with that a ripple was sent forth
that has become my most passionate hobby.
The bounds of what I thought a mushroom was
were pushed to an extreme.
I discovered that mushrooms could be frightening,
glow in the dark,
fuzzy,
shiny,
brainy,
oozy,
slimy,
scaly,
abstract,
tiny,
flamboyant,
atherial,
otherworldly,
bizarre or, in their own way,
beautiful.
But that was just the beginning.
I discovered that there are mushrooms
that digested themselves in the black goo that huffed out clouds of spores
or ejected spores with more acceleration than a speeding bullet,
mushrooms that can be used to dye wool and make clothes
or even cure disease.
And then I stumbled upon something really remarkable.
Lactarius rufulus, also known as the candy cup mushroom,
an edible mushroom that smells and tastes like maple syrup.
I love maple syrup.
But perhaps most remarkable
is the Morel, which is America's most foraged and most sought after mushroom.
It sells dried for hundreds of dollars a pound
to masses who claim its unique earthy flavor is worth every cent.
I was captivated.
So I took to the outdoors in search of mushrooms.
And it didn't take me long to find some.
It turns out they're all over the place.
In fact I found hundreds of mushrooms
right here from where I'm giving this talk
at Cal Poly Pomona.
Here are some of the first ones that I found.
Immediately I flipped through my mushroom identification book,
looking for a picture that resembled these and I found one.
It was labeled Agaricus campestris
common name meadow mushroom and it was described as edible.
So I decided to give them a try.
And now we come to a very important lesson I learned: which is
You shouldn't eat anything that you find in the wild
unless you're absolutely sure about what it is.
(Laughter)
When I took the time to actually read the book and look a little more closely,
I found a note giving the importance of checking several characteristics
when identifying mushrooms like these which I had ignored.
I had not placed the mushroom face down on a piece of paper
so the spores could deposit and I could examine them.
I had not cut open the mushroom and look for a yellow discoloration
in the flesh, as it was exposed to air.
I had not smelled the mushroom for a glue-like aroma
and many other things.
But I was very lucky,
because another mushroom that I found right here at Cal Poly Pomona
is the aptly named Destroying Angel.
Sorry about that, I forgot to mention,
I did discover what these were and they were not the meadow mushroom.
They were, as you can see,
a mildly toxic mushroom which goes by the name Agaricus Californicus.
But like I was saying I was very lucky
because I hadn't pick these instead,
which are capable of easily killing a full grown adult
in the consumption of a single mushroom.
Despite this, it's very easy to be completely safe
about eating wild mushrooms.
If you just take the time to read them,
books like the one I used make identifying wild fungi
very straight-forward and foolproof.
And if you're ever even a little bit unsure
about a wild mushroom, just don't eat it.
(Laughter)
I had made a mistake but I had a lot of fun.
I got my friends involved and to my surprise,
they had a lot of fun too.
I've gained so many new and wild experiences
that I would've never imagined otherwise
from identifying and foraging micro fungi.
And, most importantly, I found my passion.
I challenge you to go out and find something
you're passionate about,
no matter what other people think.
I'm not going to say that foraging fungi is every person's secret calling
but if you take the time to look a little more closely
at the little things in life,
you may find them as a source of beauty, excitement and fun,
and most importantly you may end up a truly fun guy or girl.
(Applause)
I want to give a special thank you to everyone
who supplied me with photos,
especially most of which came from Taylor Lockwood.
Thank you.
(Applause)