The Grown Diaries

Like many sensible people, Jack Arnott is a mycophobe — someone who has a so-called irrational fear of mushrooms. And, as he writes in the Guardian, “Invasion of the mushrooms”, the enemy is upon us.

It’s a bad time of year for me; in fact, according to some sources, my pain could be stretching out indefinitely. It’s mushroom month, so not only is there a possibility (however remote) of stumbling across the hideous fungi in everyday life, they’re invading my work life, as newspapers and magazines indulge in an orgy of ’shroom celebration with recipes and images of the little critters infesting the centre pages and assaulting me on our website.

One of the post’s commenters recommends porcini, “…on their own fried with garlic and parsley in butter.” Of course, they neglect to consider that pretty much anything tastes good fried in butter with garlic and parsley. ;)

I feel Arnott’s tongue-in-cheek pain, although the mycophobia of my youth has cooled off to a mere brow-furrowed frown of suspicion nowadays. There is a peculiarity to the avid consumption of fungus. Some mushrooms give you severe hallucinations or even kill you if you don’t know what you’re doing. We normally try to destroy fungus or at least keep our homes and bodies clean enough to prevent it. Shudder.

For many years, the notion of Eating Fungus (plus my usual fussy eating) kept me from exploring the extensive world of mushrooms. However, I am able to consume them nowadays without projectile heaving, so I’m on the road to acceptance. Not mycophilia, but toleration.

Another commenter on Arnott’s post writes,

Well, I don’t understand why on earth mushrooms and fungi would be more disgusting than eating fat and sinue of chopped up animals (which I love to eat too).

They have a point.

A couple of years ago, after a period of rain here in SoCal, a spate of mushrooms sprouted all over the neighborhood. The poodle and I took a long walk with a camera to document the various kinds that had sprung up — quite varied even in a relatively small area. Let’s face it, mushrooms are fascinating — they look weird, almost otherworldly, and come in innumerable varieties. They aren’t plants exactly, although they are the “fruit” of fungal organisms.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made an appearance here on The Grown Diaries eventually. And there might well be garlic and butter involved.