Comic Strips

The left ginger woman is actually part of the club. You can see the robes in the rubbish bin behind her and she has a ring on in the top picture.

Based on this guy's experience, no.

https://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/2006/11/22/i-survived-the-destroying-angel/

I survived the “Destroying Angel”

I took three home with me. 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.

They honestly did not taste that good, rather bland in my opinion. I thought to myself, “Gee, I don’t think I’ll ever pick and eat these again.” (Little did I know the truth of my thought at the time).

The ones in the comic don't look like death caps, but those are responsible for 90% of mushroom-related poisonings, so we'll assume artistic license.

Death caps probably would go well with pasta. Here is an article from The Atlantic with someone who has tasted one.

Britt Bunyard, the founder, publisher, and editor in chief of the mycology journal Fungi, has tasted a death cap. “Very pleasant and mushroomy,” he told me. “A nice flavor, and then you spit it out.”

“There’s nothing in the taste that tells you what you are eating is about to kill you.”

I tolerate mushrooms on food from restaurants but I would never just eat one from the wild unless I was extremely desperate, the risk/reward is just insane.

Lol You'd think we'd have some sort of easy test strips or something for these, but ig not

There's a few top edible mushrooms that look like nothing else. Good starting point

I still remember when I met a pilot who majored in geology. I asked him "you know the irony in that right?" He says "yep. But hey at least I can tell you about the mountain we're about to crash into."

I took a class in Geology, but I failed the final exam...I took everything I had been taught for granite.

Mushroom foraging gets so much unreasonable fear that it will kill you instantly the first time you do it. And only people with arcane woodcraft skills and a death wish do it. Yes, there mushrooms that can kill you if you eat them. But a lot of the bad ones will just make you wish they had killed you. But you will survive the experience.

And like many human endeavors, such as skydiving, driving a vehicle, swimming, or crossing a busy street, will quickly get you killed if you do it wrong. It takes education and practice with someone that knows how to do it correctly to learn to do it yourself. Mushroom hunting falls into that same category.

If you wish to do it, take some classes. They can be often found in big cities. Go out with proper experienced guides and perhaps learn a new skill. The hardest part is admitting when you ain't sure if you are right and then walking away. Or not. It's up to you.

I thought I hated mushrooms but it turns out the most common grocery store mushroom is just the worst kind. Crimini/button/portabello it's all Agaricus bisporus and it sucks. Enoki mushrooms opened my eyes and so far I've liked every single mushroom I've tried that isn't that dogshit A bisporus rubbery mud.

I used to hate the texture, but if cooked right they will be tender (canned mushrooms are probably better added near the end of cooking). Gumminess can also be masked by balancing it with other food (particularly meat, vegetables like potato/squash/broccoli) to chew against/alongside it.

Probably doesn't help if you don't like the taste, though that could just come down to mushroom variety if not also what dish it's in (spices etc).

To all mushrooms? Are you allergic to beer? I’m sorry, I instantly have a thousand questions

The better advice is if you don't know what something is, don't put it in your mouth at all. If someone was to try this when they are desperate for food, usually if alone and lost, they could make a bad situation even worse.

There are quite a few stories or people eating death caps (Amanita phalloides), especially after cooking and not being able to detect anything off until they need to go to the hospital.

Aminita muscaria has been used medicinally for years and has some really good potential. If you really want to trip though, just stick with psilocybin. Ibotenic acid is a neurotoxin and there is not a reliable way to test dosages at home. The last dosage advice I read was just eat a half mouthfull and you should be good if your stomach doesn't cramp up to all hell. (The companies that have been pumping out muscimol gummies recently are shady as fuck if you were wondering.)

The aminita family is still super interesting though and deserves a ton more research.

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Where I live mushrooms from the market are ridiculously expensive. That's why it's so common to go mushroom picking yourself. It's a nice outdoors-y way to spend your time and it's not that difficult if you get a primer from someone seasoned at it. And some mushrooms you'll just find a ton without much effort.