Mushroom hunting has been practiced for thousands of years in many parts of the world. It has likely been done since the
Paleolithic. In 2015, scientists analyzed dental calculus on skeletons dating back to the Paleolithic period in Spain and discovered evidence of mushroom consumption.
Ancient times An ancient
Sumerian text reveals that the ancient
Amorites may have eaten
truffles.
Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,300 year old mummy found in the Alps, was found with two different species of mushrooms on him: the birch polypore (
Fomitopsis betulina) and the hoof fungus (
Fomes fomentarius). It is thought that he may have used the former as an antibiotic or anti-inflammatory and that he used the latter as a fire starter. Mushrooms were also eaten in
ancient Greece and
Rome. The Caesar's mushroom (
Amanita caesarea) gets its name because it was popular among
Roman emperors. Emperor
Claudius's wife
Agrippa is thought to have poisoned him by serving him Caesar's mushrooms mixed with juices from the deadly poisonous death cap (
Amanita phalloides). Truffles were also highly prized in ancient Rome. In
ancient China, the lingzhi mushroom (
Ganoderma lucidum) was used medicinally.
Middle Ages In medieval Europe, mushroom hunting was done, but mushrooms were also viewed with superstition and skepticism and often associated with witchcraft. In Northern Europe, the fly agaric (
Amanita muscaria) was used by
Sami shamans in rituals due to its
psychotropic properties. In medieval Europe, truffles, field mushrooms, porcinis, chanterelles, and morels were eaten. In the Middle East, people likely ate mushrooms as well. Arab physician
Al-Biruni wrote about consumption of several species, including truffles. In Japan, matsutakes were highly prized and consumption of them was restricted to the imperial court. This law was in practice until the 17th and 18th centuries. Mushroom hunting was popular among the Japanese nobility, who sometimes sent matsutakes as gifts. While
mycophobia was prevalent in Europe during the Middle Ages, it began to decline during the
Renaissance. However, during the
early modern period, there was still mycophobia in some places. In
England during the 17th century, mycophobia was very common. Mushrooms were associated with filth and were sometimes referred to as "excrements of the earth". However, some people in England did eat mushrooms at that time, and many 17th-century English cookbooks include mushroom recipes. In pre-industrial
Scandinavia, mushrooms were not eaten very much and there was so much mycophobia that even in times of desperation, peasantry would not eat mushrooms. The Swedish used
A. muscaria as a
pesticide. In northern Sweden, dried mushrooms, possibly
Melanogaster variegatus, were used as bait in squirrel traps. While mycophobia was common among the peasantry, it was less so among some of the upper class, who enjoyed
false morels,
St. George's mushrooms,
button mushrooms, and possibly
Lactarius deterrimus. This may have been due to French influence. It is thought that
Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI may have died from eating death cap mushrooms.
19th century In the 19th century,
mycology was on the rise, and several influential women including
Mary Banning and
Beatrix Potter contributed to the field. Around the 1830s in Sweden, some authors began to promote mushroom consumption. In 1836, mycologist
Elias Magnus Fries wrote a book about how mushrooms were eaten in many other countries and that he believed Sweden should do the same. In the 1860s, Sweden faced a famine and the government began promoting consumption of mushrooms, but Swedish peasants still didn't eat them. In the 1880s, mushrooms began to gain popularity in Sweden among city-dwellers and the upper class. In Poland, mushrooms have been eaten for hundreds of years, with many species being eaten in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the late 19th century, American civil war veteran and mycologist
Charles McIlvaine collected and tried many different species of mushrooms. He was able to tolerate mushroom species normally considered poisonous, earning him the nickname "Old Iron Guts". He published a field guide of 1,000 edible and poisonous species in 1900.
20th and 21st centuries Around 1912, mushrooms became more recognized as a food ingredient in Sweden, with posters of edible mushrooms being used in schools to promote consumption of mushrooms in the 1920s and 1930s. After World War II, mushroom hunting became even more popular in Sweden, being promoted by many mycologists and enthusiasts. In Britain, mushroom hunting also became more popular due to a food shortage. Also, Polish troops who fought alongside the British in WWII brought Polish culture to the British, which included mushroom hunting. In the 1950s and 1960s, the British began to eat more porcinis and truffles due to the French and Italians also eating them. On 26 April 1986, in
Soviet Ukraine, leading to many mushrooms in the region, including edible species, accumulating radioactive materials. This has led to concerns about mushroom hunting; mushrooms as far away as
Germany have been found to be contaminated with radioactive material.
Hedgehog mushrooms and
terracotta hedgehog mushrooms have been found to contain some of the highest levels of radioactive material. After the disaster, the Swedish government discouraged people from eating wild mushrooms. People in Sweden also began to refrain from mushroom hunting due to radiation. == Regional importance ==