MolimOrion
Veteran XV
Have been getting into mushroom identification for a couple years now, logically after trees, and other plants. Recently joined the Oregon Mycological Society, and have been out hunting morels for a couple weeks now.
Pretty much all the books I've read at some point reference fungiphobia, and they usually imply this plagues Britain and the US mostly. In Italy, Russia, and alot of Asian countries, they do not seem to have this fungiphobia.
Do you have fungiphobia ?
Any theories on how folks became so afraid of mushrooms in certain geographical areas ?
Alot of plants are poisonous, especially many plants with round berries. Folks learn to ID plants to make sure they don't eat poisonous ones. Folks in the non-fungiphobic countries learn to ID mushrooms, to make sure they don't eat poisonous ones.
If I mention to folks that I am going huckleberry hunting, they say good luck, and sometimes mention how much they like huckleberries. But if I mention to folks I am going mushroom hunting, more times than not, it devolves into a liver-failure conversation, with alot of obvious phobia coming out. But you could just as easily eat a poisonous lookalike berry as you could a poisonous mushroom.
Just curious, because I'm certain I was also raised with this fungiphobia. Not sure why, or if it goes back to folkstories. Have mushrooms always got a bad rap similar to snakes ? Alot of religions have used snakes in their stories to imply evil/temptation....not sure why they chose them either.
Pretty much all the books I've read at some point reference fungiphobia, and they usually imply this plagues Britain and the US mostly. In Italy, Russia, and alot of Asian countries, they do not seem to have this fungiphobia.
Do you have fungiphobia ?
Any theories on how folks became so afraid of mushrooms in certain geographical areas ?
Alot of plants are poisonous, especially many plants with round berries. Folks learn to ID plants to make sure they don't eat poisonous ones. Folks in the non-fungiphobic countries learn to ID mushrooms, to make sure they don't eat poisonous ones.
If I mention to folks that I am going huckleberry hunting, they say good luck, and sometimes mention how much they like huckleberries. But if I mention to folks I am going mushroom hunting, more times than not, it devolves into a liver-failure conversation, with alot of obvious phobia coming out. But you could just as easily eat a poisonous lookalike berry as you could a poisonous mushroom.
Just curious, because I'm certain I was also raised with this fungiphobia. Not sure why, or if it goes back to folkstories. Have mushrooms always got a bad rap similar to snakes ? Alot of religions have used snakes in their stories to imply evil/temptation....not sure why they chose them either.
