25 ms·
I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)
- ayakura 7y agoWhen I was younger, I was taught not to pick up or eat colorful mushrooms - the more colors they had, the deadlier they were, supposedly. At the time, I thought it made sense as the same rule applied for poisonous frogs. After reading the article and looking at Wikipedia's list of deadly fungus species, I'm not so sure if that rule also applies to mushrooms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadly_fungus_species https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadly_fungus_species
- jpuderer 7y agoA surprising number of people seem to think that. No correlation AFAICT. Some of the best mushrooms are colorful (eg. chanterelles).
- somehnguy 7y agoChanterelles are great because there are only 2 other mushrooms that are even close in resemblance and neither of them is particularly poisonous. One just tastes bad and the other will cause a stomach ache. They're also very easy to tell apart from the real deal even for a novice like me. Harvested and ate a bunch a few weekends ago with a buddy. Delicious.
- amatecha 7y agoWord - I just foraged a bunch of them recently! Once you find them, more are usually nearby! Also, once you've had them on hand enough, it becomes easy to identify them with a very high degree of certainty.
- pugworthy 7y agoAbsolutely - like the perfect mushroom being super unique, and super tasty.
- mda 7y agoYou mean Omphalotus olearius and Hygrophoropsis aurantica? First one could be very nasty, maybe not deadly but very painful. Easily possible to confuse with Cantharellus cibarius, See https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(15)00475-5/pdf https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(15)00475-5/pdf
- somehnguy 7y agoYup the Jack 'o Lantern and False Chanterelle. I misremembered, I guess it is more than a mild stomach ache (but still not likely to really hurt you). But it looks nothing like the chanterelle as long as your criteria includes more than 'its orange'.
- throwaway2048 7y agoThere are essentially no general hard and fast rules like that when it comes to mushroom hunting, there is no substitute for knowing how to positively identify specific species, where specific species should be growing, and knowing what distinguishes them from similar poisonous species.
- dmurray 7y agoI don't see why this could possibly get downvoted, it's absolutely true. If you do have a "hard and fast" rule in mind, it may work in your region but not in other places.
- DuskStar 7y agoBesides the trivial rule of "pick no mushrooms", of course.
- Alex3917 7y ago> If you do have a "hard and fast" rule in mind, it may work in your region but not in other places. There are lots of hard and fast rules in different regions though that do work if you can ID the mushroom to genus. E.g. in New England, no green mushrooms in the Russula genus are poisonous.
- linuskendall 7y agoWe were taught to avoid white mushrooms, as in our area the poisionous ones you might mistake for edible ones are white.
- cm2012 7y agoI recommend /r/mycology for all your mushroom identification needs.
- gbronner 7y agoI'm curious if parents still admonish their kids not to eat wild mushrooms. The first time I was with a family friend and watched him pick and eat wild mushrooms, it was as if I'd discovered a new strain of magic. Today, I'll eat chicken mushrooms if they look exactly like the ones I've seen before. Otherwise I'll pass. I sort of feel like those killer whales that have to be taught by other whales that fish are food, as their pod specialized in seals or penguins.
- egdod 7y ago> I'm curious if parents still admonish their kids not to eat wild mushrooms. Absolutely. Really, eating anything you find in the wild is risky unless you’re completely sure what it is. (Wild strawberries are pretty easy to identify, for example.)
- daveslash 7y agoOn a 3 day backpacking in Wyoming trip I once ate a fist-full of Rubus phoenicolasius, thinking they were wild raspberries before I looked at the leaves and realized.... "those are not raspberries". Turns out they're fine...as anecdotal evidence shows... but now I'll generally conduct a thorough examination of the whole plant before eating anything; especially if I'm in a region in which I didn't grow up. When I'm home, I still eat all kinds of wild berries without really checking that thoroughly (strawberries, blueberries, cranberries -- both types, etc..).
- m463 7y agoMore so after Into the Wild became a movie (not mushrooms) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless
- zipwitch 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_strawberry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_strawberry They fooled me once. I picked and ate one, noticed it didn't taste right almost immediately. Once you look more closely, the fruit is quite obviously different in shape and texture, but the leaves are near-perfect and the fruit is the right color. It certainly gave me a quick and fortunately danger-free reminder that there's a world of difference between "hey that looks like..." and "yes, after careful examination, this is...".
- dekhn 7y agoAlmost every year, I read an article about a family (usually from Eastern Europe) that was picking mushrooms and misidentified an amanita as somethign they recognized from their home country. THey usually end up at UCSF (world-class transplants) and it's typically the kids who are affected the most.
- emmelaich 7y agoThat happens here in Australia. What looks very much like an edible mushroom from Asia or elsewhere can be poisonous. And vice versa.
- catalogia 7y ago> "With early diagnosis, another experimental treatment includes massive doses of penicillin to stimulate the liver’s defenses." The solution to fungus is... more fungus! Really goes to show the incredible breadth of this form of life.
- thaumasiotes 7y agoHow so? This is pretty much the same idea as an Irish petty king inviting in some Norman troops to show the other petty kings who's boss. (It turned out to be the Normans, of course.) Penicillin works by killing other similar things.
- m463 7y agoSort of a "hair of the dog" (except it's another dog species)
- catalogia 7y agoSome mushrooms kill you, others save your life, and yet others expand your mind. It's subjective, but I consider it incredible.
- Scoundreller 7y agoIn other words, they're all edible. But some of them only once.
- workmandan 7y agoEdible does not mean "can physically be eaten" it means "is safe to eat". So no, poisonous mushrooms are not edible.
- greencore 7y agoThere was a 50yo man in Lithuania that made bet that he will not die from Amanita phalloides (because scientist are hiding the truth etc.) as he didn't die from Amanita muscaria previous year. So he died in 5 days. https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/lietuva/vyras-sumane-patikrinti-ar-zalsvoji-musmire-isties-nuodinga-56-118845 https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/lietuva/vyras-sumane-p...
- jpuderer 7y agoI am surprised this mistake is possible. Inky caps don't look anything like Amanitas of any kind, IMO. I am assuming that the author doesn't drink alcohol, otherwise Inky Caps aren't so great either (though not generally fatal).
- amatecha 7y agoThey look a lot more similar when they are a bit earlier in the life cycle, I think
- anyfoo 7y agoHuh: "I mistook them for inky caps [...] even though I spotted an Amanita nearby [...] I should have been more suspicious as mushrooms do grow in colonies." "I couldn’t find my Mushroom book, was in a hurry, so I trusted my judgment, fried them up in olive oil, and ate them as a side dish." "I should have recognized then that they weren’t inky caps, because inky caps exude a black substance when you fry them." "At that point, I got concerned. I covered it up by saying, “I’m OK, I know what I’m doing and I don’t feel sick.”" That's... a lot of interesting decisions, for something potentially so deadly. Had I known this person afterwards, I think I might have politely declined any dinner invitations.
- arkades 7y agoI found interesting that he closes his post with an excerpt about how safe mushroom picking is, and how adverse outcomes only happen to ignorant fools who know nothing about mushrooms and don’t bother learning. In an article that opens with “here is a list of things I know and books I read, and here’s how I poisoned myself anyway.”
- mrleinad 7y agoBecause he got himself poisoned right when he ignored everything he knew should do.
- anyfoo 7y agoYeah. And after my quotes above, the author notes that even after realizing that the intense sickness is likely related to the mushrooms, they still kept denying it. But they do find time in the article to pass some judgment on "busy" "city" folks and their presumed inability to endure silence. Even though that's a different kind of "judgment" than the kind demonstrated above, I find it somehow hard to be receptive to it... 8)
- fortran77 7y agoAnd instead of thanking the doctors for their heroic effort, he credits his woo-woo "visualization" techniques.
- daveslash 7y agoI grew up deep in the woods. Like any good mother, mine was a little over-protective; I was instructed to not even touch any mushrooms (or other fungus). Period. But if I did touch them, to wash my hands as soon as possible. To this day, I generally leave them alone. If I do pick one up while on a hike, I'll generally wash my hands with whatever drinking water I have on me.
- duxup 7y agoInterestingly the toxin in the mushroom from the story apparently isn't absorbed through the skin. But I probably would wash my hands too.
- cm2012 7y agoNo mushroom exists in the world that can poison you through touching it. Even licking. Your body has to digest it. Edit: I'm currently at -5 but this is a fact. http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/Lect17a.htm http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/Lect17a.htm http://www.mushroomexpert.com/studying.html#odortaste http://www.mushroomexpert.com/studying.html#odortaste https://www.reddit.com/r/mycology/comments/2ps3q5/are_there_any_mushrooms_that_are_dangerous_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mycology/comments/2ps3q5/are_there_...
- JohnJamesRambo 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amatoxin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amatoxin Amatoxins are one of my favorite chemical structures, so beautiful.
- teh_klev 7y agoGenuine question, why so?
- JohnJamesRambo 7y agoJust the beauty of the circle arrangement and then boom plops the Tryptophan down right in the middle and links both sides.
- outworlder 7y agoThe effect doesn't seem to be so beautiful... > Because it inactivates the RNA polymerases, the liver is unable to repair the damage that beta-amanitin causes and the cells of the liver disintegrate and the liver dissolves.
- rectangletangle 7y agoAlthough it's not quite the same thing, this reminds me a bit of amnesic shellfish poisoning. In addition to all the terrible gastric problems ASP has the curious side-effect of severe permanent anterograde amnesia, where all memories before the incident are retrained, but the poisoned individual can't create new long term memories. So they're limited to working memory which only lasts a few seconds. However research has shown that some specific types of long term memories can be still be made. For instance if an amnesiac individual is asked to draw the same image repeatedly, they may still improve in speed and efficiency without any apparent conscious memory of having drawn the image before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesic_shellfish_poisoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesic_shellfish_poisoning
- taneq 7y agoWell you can add that to my list of horrifying potential outcomes of being human. > For instance if an amnesiac individual is asked to draw the same image repeatedly, they may still improve in speed and efficiency without any conscious memory of drawing the image. So it's basically a human version of cache timing attacks. O.o
- rectangletangle 7y ago>Well you can add that to my list of horrifying potential outcomes of being human. Pretty much, fortunately it's very rare. However you shouldn't eat sport caught shellfish without first checking for local warnings regarding harmful algal blooms. At least in the US/Canada all store bought Seafood is thoroughly screened for this specific problem, because ASP was discovered in Canada after a mass poisoning event in the late 1980s. Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds was loosely based on an invasion of tens of thousands of delirious seabirds thought to be suffering with ASP in Santa Cruz in 1961.
- Balgair 7y agoIf you're ever in SF and have a bit of an afternoon, the Marine Mammal Center, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, is a fantastic afternoon. It's free to wander about and tours cost ~$10/person. Perfect for an afternoon with the nieces and nephews. They cover ~600 miles of coastline on the western US, including Hawaii, and help with marine mammal rehab and study. One of the KEY functions of the center is the monitoring of demoic acid in marine mammals, the cause behind Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning. Much like us terrestrial mammals, demoic acid is a heck of a terror for marine mammals too. When lots of seals and otters show up with high amounts of demoic acid in them, the Marine Mammal Center can issue alerts to local health officials to help us humans steer clear of seafood and to increase monitoring of the oceanic food chain. As of this last weekend when I was there, they state that they have never seen such an outbreak of demoic acid poisoning on the west coast going back to about 1984. The Marine Mammal Center is a fantastic place filled with great volunteers and incredible staff. Everyone there is super knowledgable and super dedicated to our oceans. If you have never been, it's a great time and perfect for the little ones. More info here: http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/ http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/
- alistproducer2 7y agoUnless im in a cow field and looking for a certain easily identifiable party mushroom, I leave the mushroom foraging to the experts.
- AceJohnny2 7y agoFor a more positive outlook on why people get enthusiastic about mushrooms, I recommend the amazing book "All That The Rain Promises And More...", which has probably the best cover of a non-fiction book I've ever seen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_That_the_Rain_Promises_and_More.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_That_the_Rain_Promises_and....
- barbs 7y agoThe link is missing a period at the end (should be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_That_the_Rain_Promises_and_More... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_That_the_Rain_Promises_and...)
- hcarvalhoalves 7y ago> I found out that of three people admitted in 2006 to Strong Memorial with Amanita poisoning (...) Three people poisoning themselves in the span of one year in a particular region sounds like a lot.
- linuskendall 7y agoWhere I am from (Sweden) many, many people make mushroom picking a regular habit. However, most who do are aware of what mushrooms are safe, which ones to take extra care in identifying (definitely all white ones) and which ones to never pick. Wild mushrooms are perfectly safe as long as you have some knowledge about it. We were taught by parents and on school trips.
- eru 7y agoMost poisonous mushrooms also don't taste good and make you throw up quickly. (Our bodies have that vomiting mechanism for exactly that reason.) Of course, most doesn't mean all.
- klipt 7y agoProvided you don't assume that knowledge that works in Sweden works anywhere else in the world.
- alkonaut 7y agoIt doesn't - which is why a lot of people get sick in Sweden every year and it's heavily skewed to people who aren't Swedish. I'm not sure if it's because they lack knowledge entirely, or because the knowledge they had didn't transfer. Few swedes would pick a white mushroom at all, and most would know that it at least shouldn't be white both on top and underneath because that's deadly.
- cc81 7y agoThat fits me, I just wrote a comment saying that while I feel very comfortable picking the standard 2-4 mushrooms in Sweden I would never try and pick a white one even if know we have some edible species.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ridaj 7y agoIn France, you can bring your wild mushrooms to any local pharmacy, and they will ID them for you as a free service. Seems like it would be a useful service to US foragers too!
- mizzao 7y agoHow do all these pharmacists get trained in mushroom identification?
- hoseja 7y agoIt's really not that hard if you only go after regular edible mushrooms. The entire mycology is impossibly broad but normal foraging is basically trivial. Pharmacists learn much harder things.
- ridaj 7y agoIt's part of the curriculum. The most important thing for them though is to focus on mushrooms in their region not having encyclopedic knowledge... Still, some will refuse to provide this service if they don't feel confident.
- byuu 7y agoAll I can think is what a liability nightmare that would be in the US if a pharmacist made a bad call. For both the pharmacist and the company that employed them.
- tobltobs 7y agoIn Switzerland this service is offered by the commune or canton. http://www.vapko.ch http://www.vapko.ch
- dugditches 7y agoIf you're ever uncertain of a mushroom you can take a spore print to help. Say you have some in your yard and worried about a pet or child. It's very vague sometimes trying to identify a 'typical' looking mushroom. But if you just place the cap on a piece of paper, and cover it overnight you'll be left with a sporeprint(think like a mushroom finger print). The color can help you narrow down a vague search.
- jimueller 7y agoSorry, but this is just so irresponsible. I'm sure I'll be corrected, but it almost needlessly resulted in taking a liver away from someone that needed it not as a result of their own stupidity. Oh, and then while in an emergency room on the brink of death questions why the alternative medicine some friend found online was never used.
- Alex3917 7y agoHe doesn't explicitly say, but presumably what the doctors successfully treated him with was alternative medicine, just different alternative medicine. (Silbinin isn't FDA approved in the US.)
- gatherhunterer 7y agoThe ending almost reads like satire. He was picturing a happy, smiling liver and wonders whether it was that positive visualization or the massive doses of penicillin that did the trick? It’s like something from the Onion.
- Enginerrrd 7y agoTo be fair, I've watched a lot of people on the brink of death. (I was a paramedic for a time.) You could often tell the ones that would die despite very similar presentation to one's that would live. The difference was the ones that would live had fight in their eyes. You see that too with folks waiting for a loved one to get there before they die. They can push it back for hours or even days if they've got the fight to do it. They even teach that to rescuers in search and rescue: often people that have hung in for days fighting to survive see their rescue and then they relax and start going downhill fast. Long story short, there definitely is something to your mental game in a situation like this. It's a smaller effect than the others, but it's there.
- justanotherjoe 7y agoDo you have anything i can read on the rescue stuff? This all might come in handy for when I'm dying one day.
- nlh 7y agoCan someone give me a quick explainer on why it’s appealing to pick & eat ANY mushrooms in the wild at all? I’m probably just a dumb “city kid”, but I don’t see the appeal whatsoever. I’d love to get some perspective on why folks enjoy this.
- flatline 7y agoThey are awfully tasty fried up with a little butter and it is fun to go for a hike and find perfectly edible, tasty food right there growing wild. As he mentions toward the end, practically no one gets sick from eating wild mushrooms. For instance in the SW United States there is really no way of mistaking anything poisonous for an edible puffball. Some people are more adventurous and will identify questionable mushrooms from a book, but then you’re really taking care not to eat something deadly and don’t proceed if you are not certain.
- tsimionescu 7y agoAs a city kid who likes doing this, there are two aspects for me. One is simply the game of going through the forest and carefully scanning the ground, looking at bunches of leaves - is that just leaves? Or a young mushroom just coming out? Then, when you do find a mushroom, checking if it's firm and good to eat, enjoying the alien aspect of the thing etc. The other aspect is the wonderful taste of these. In my country we have porcini and chanterelle mushrooms in the wild, and finding some makes for an absolutely delicious breakfast the next day. You usually can't get fresh forest mushrooms any other way here, and in the rare occasions that you do find them, they are extremely expensive.
- dmitrybrant 7y agoI grew up in Russia, and like in many other Slavic cultures, mushroom foraging was a time-honored family affair. Some of my fondest memories are of picking mushrooms with my grandmother, who taught me all I know about identifying them. I still forage them all the time here in the States. I'm sorry, but it continues to baffle me how someone can mistake an Amanita for a Coprinus (or Agaricus). To my eyes they're as different as a bottle of milk and a bottle of Drano. I suppose I can see how very young specimens of Amanita can resemble other varieties, but then you can follow a simple rule: if it looks remotely like a baby Amanita... don't take it! There are plenty of other mushrooms that are virtually unmistakable. And then the idea of not double-checking what you foraged before cooking and eating it? That's... unconscionable. I've been foraging for 30+ years, and I still examine each individual specimen before putting it in the pot. It's a shame because these kinds of stories create unnecessary fear in Americans about picking things from the wild, when there are so many great tastes and experiences right there at your fingertips.
- Alex3917 7y ago> It's a shame because these kinds of stories create unnecessary fear in Americans about picking things from the wild, when there are so many great tastes and experiences right there at your fingertips. To be fair, until we have better tools to diagnose and treat the tick-borne illnesses that are prevalent in the US, it still isn't the safest hobby. This year I finally got sick of worrying about Powassan virus et al. so largely gave up spending time in the woods and just bought a road bike for outdoor time instead.
- SapporoChris 7y agoOdds are pretty low of getting a tick borne disease. I would assume they're even lower if you take precautions. About 60000 incidents a year. Powassan virus 33 incidents (https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/data-summary/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/data-summary/index.html) I would speculate that more than 33 people manage to kill them selves road biking each year, but I confess I'm just guessing.
- 7y ago
- maggie21 7y agoI wasn’t sure about my husband because he wasn’t so conscious about his phone not until only recently when we got into an heated argument because I tried to access his phone… I got more insecure cause I started to feel like I wasn’t enough I didn’t want to entertain these thoughts but I needed to satisfy my curiosity and then I decided to hire the guys at george rl consultant1996 at gee mail dot com on referral from my friend out in Russia … he is the guy to meet for all your hacking services, he is affordable, reliable and 100% safe. He was able to grant me access to his (My man) mobile device, access his locations, call logs, facebook, WhatsApp. I left without looking back and I was glad I did this is because I worked on myself and now I know my worth… You need to get out before it’s too late.
- dannykwells 7y agoIs there an app for mushroom ID? Seems like a no brainer now-a-days. Foraging is coming back with the kids. Could probably raise 80M from it, especially if you invent a social networking aspect around foraging.
- AlphaGeekZulu 7y agoIf geographical spots for mushroom foraging find their way into social media, there will be no mushrooms in the forests next year. Mushroom foraging is actually a pretty secretive thing – for a reason!
- Grangar 7y agoWould you really want people to blindly trust that? Like the posted article image recognition might falsely consider a deadly mushroom to be harmless, suddenly you've got potential deaths on your hands.
- workmandan 7y agoThere are apps but you should not use them as they are dangerously inaccurate. Mushroom identification requires numerous different factors that a simple photograph would not be sufficient for a positive id.
- wsc981 7y agoNot directly related but mushroom-guru Paul Stamets recommends against eating Portobello mushrooms or -if you eat them- at least cook them very very well. Paul doesn't dare to go into too many details regarding this mushroom though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ&t=6300s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ&t=6300s Also, Enoki mushrooms should prevent some cancers as was seen in Japan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ&t=6495s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ&t=6495s
- martingoodson 7y agoIf anyone wants to start eating wild mushrooms and doesn't want to poison themselves I recommend this approach: 1. Choose one edible mushroom species that is often found in your region and is difficult to mis-identify (ceps, giant puffballs, beefsteak, field mushrooms etc) 2. Get to know this species inside out and learn which species look similar to it, especially any poisonous species. Learn the visual differences. 3.Learn the diagnostic tests (spore prints, smell tests, color changes on bruising). 4. Go mushroom picking! 5. Don't eat anything until you've picked this species so many times that you have become expert in identifying it. 6. Start learning about a new species and repeat.
- rkachowski 7y agoThe author seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the bible (referencing individual psalms by number), wears a cross around his neck to hospital, practises all kinds of eastern religious meditations (recommends "Awaken the Healing Light of the Tao" in the midst of describing himself in a diaper on a CAT scan machine). On top of this he works as a particle accelerator operator at cornell. And still eats some of the mushrooms he previously identified as growing next to some clearly poisonous mushroom colony. At the end of the article he questions whether it was an act of god or meditation that saved him, yet concludes that realistically it was not taking the time to identify the mushrooms correctly which caused the whole process. Yet starts the article with the comment that he was somehow in an altered mental state from a "Aligning the Three Tan Tiens" exercise which left him feeling invincible. Surely if you belive that god or meditation was the cure, you would have to believe that they could also be the cause - especially in this case when you're doing the "nothing can kill me" meditation before picking mushrooms. It's a weird half baked half-rational half-esoteric thought process that staggers me. Religion and science are always a controversial mix, but this is an extreme example.
- nothal 7y agoI found it on the whole endearing. Through the author's religion we saw his valuation of his friends and family as well as his whole life. I think it's certainly within reason that people can believe contradictory 'truths' and I'm sure you do as well.
- Insanity 7y agoI'd make that point even stronger, humans don't tend to analyze their every thought with extreme care and I'd say _most_ hold some kind of contradictory believes. Or, believe something but don't actually act accordingly. (Cognitive dissonance) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
- Aeolun 7y agoSome contradictory beliefs, but the author is a walking stewpot full of contradictory beliefs. Not the end of the world, but certainly remarkable.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- AlphaGeekZulu 7y agoMushroom foraging was common in my family and the ruleset was quite simple – we learnt this as children: - you have to know a mushroom, that you want to eat, by 100%. You not only have to know the appearance in all possible states (young/old, colour variations, environmental context) but also you have to know the lookalikes and how to differentiate. The point here is: NEVER follow any generic rules (like avoid mushrooms with this or that feature), but reliably identify the type you want to eat! - to learn to absolutely positively identify a mushroom therefore takes a lot of time. In my childhood I learnt about a dozen edible types, that I would dare to eat. And this knowledge only applies to the geographic region I lived. The same mushroom might have other lookalikes in other regions. - if there is the slightest doubt, do not eat it. - when picking, make plausibility checks. For example: does the sample fit to the environment? - if you have trouble to differentiate a potentially edible mushroom from its lookalike, avoid both. - if there is the slightest doubt, do not eat it. - as long as you are learning a new type, do not eat it. If you pick one to examine at home, keep it separated from the others. Buy samples from the market for comparison. - when you are sure that you have learnt a new edible type and that you can absolutely identify it, pick one. Double check with the books, when at home. Ask someone else for reassurance, if possible. - When still sure: prepare one very small sample together with the other mushrooms and only for one member of the family (in my case, that would usually be my father). Observe for reactions for at least 24 hours. If everything is fine, repeat with a somewhat larger ratio the next time. Do so one more time and if everything is still fine, that type would be approved for family use. As a child, it was always a little exciting, not to say creepy, when father tried a new type. But never anything happened of course. - Some mushrooms only become edible with certain preparation. Make sure to know them. My family would usually avoid those. - if there is the slightest doubt, do not eat it.
- saiya-jin 7y agoYeah something along those lines, apart from testing new stuff (god knows how long some toxins take to manifest or how strong they are, why risk life/health for few bites). We knew around 10+ of types that grow around us and all their variations, didn't touch anything else. It is a wonderful activity, hike in dense forests for hours, coupled with treasure hunt that you can eat afterwards (or dry for later). Great for kids too. The thing is, when I moved to Switzerland, the amount and types of mushrooms changed dramatically, for the worse in this case. Alps around here seem to be pretty desolate place, and of those mushrooms I can find most are not known to me, so big no-no. Funny how things can change dramatically when you move only 1500km. The worst people are those that collect all mushrooms they see and then they study them at home. We used to make fun of big city dwellers for this. But this approach is dangerous - not only is there unnecessary destruction to beautiful fungus that will be just thrown away, but also eating something that was touching / has bits of death cap on it cap ain't the brightest idea. Plus without expertise, many edible mushroom might look very similar to dangerous ones. One of the reasons I never dared to pick up magic mushrooms in the wilderness - they are too similar to some poisonous ones back home. Not worth the risk, not unless I would know all variations of them by heart.
- pvaldes 7y agoConfusing Coprinus and Amanita is like confusing a zebra with a jiraffe. Totally different textures
- supernova87a 7y agoThe thing that was most frustrating for me to read was the 30 minute wait at the hospital to even be registered and diagnosed. (in the critical -- I assume -- first hours when the thing is making it's way into your bloodstream) In a situation like that, I like to tell myself at least, I would loudly and firmly say, "I've been poisoned, time is of the essence, can you please stop what you're doing and help me, this is urgent!"
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y agoThere is no antidote for Amanita poisoning, so treatment is entirely supportive. Drinking that liter of charcoal 30 min earlier would not have made a perceptible difference, given that the author's body was already busy expelling at both ends. Personally I was more astonished that it took him over five hours after the symptoms started to get himself medical attention, even though he himself realized it was likely Amanita poisoning!
- dredmorbius 7y agoTriage is a thing. Immediate life-threatening conditions, usually circulatory or pulmonary, gross trauma, overdose, get immediate priority. Conditions progeessing over days or even hours, not so much. When you / loved ones walk up and are immediately admitted, be concerned.
- hc91 7y agoThe author seems highly irresponsible. You don't just play around with mushrooms that you pick yourself from the woods - and you especially not cook / eat them, without double / triple checking them. When you are in doubt - you simply avoid eating them and taking risks. What happened to him is 100% his fault and was easily avoidable, I cannot have sympathy for that.
- AceJohnny2 7y agoWhile everyone's commenting about how foolish the author was with his choices, I think the main point point is that this is a very well written chronicle of facing certain but not immediate death and what that feels like, down to the minutiae at the hospital.
- kbos87 7y ago> “ The thought that these guys might be trying to get my liver for someone else did cross my mind. I let it go.” ...but the thought that carelessness on your part may mean you take a liver from someone waiting for a long time on the transplant list didn’t?