Indian Wild Mushroom Prices an Economic Indicator?
An article in the Indian publication, the Nation, asks if the current high price of wild mushrooms is an indicator of true supply and demand. Could it be because of dwindling forest resources leading to a smaller mushroom supply? Who knows? See Wild mushrooms a symptom of economic imbalance by Wichit Chaitrong. It has an editorial tone.
Perhaps there just isn’t much of a demand for mushrooms in India and those who do like them are willing to pay the high price.
According to George Wong’s (University of Hawaii) lecture notes for his class Magical Mushrooms and Mystical Molds, “The Indian subcontinent appears to be mostly mycophobic or at least do not eat mushrooms to the extent of the Asian continent. Most consumption seems to be in mountainous area of Kasmir and the Himalayas. Mushroom consumption is also common in Bengal. However, it generally appears that India lacks a culinary interest in mushrooms. One reason for this lack of interest may be that India was once a former British Colony, but it appears that this lack of interest predates British presence in India. Despite the lack of gastronomic interest in mushrooms, in the district of Kerala, mushrooms are utilized in religious ceremonies. In this district, burial monuments, resembling mushrooms, built between 2000-1000 B.C., are worshiped by present day people who also consume some of the hallucinogenic mushrooms in this area. It is believed that these mushrooms enable the user to communicate with their gods and the dead.”
On the other hand, apparently some people in India do pick them, even though they don’t know what they are doing. According to one source (Nine hospitalized after eating wild mushrooms), picking mushrooms in Indian forests is even illegal.
More on Mushrooms in India:
Directorate of Mushroom Research
Poisonous and Hallucinogenic Mushrooms of India
Three Mushrooms Cultivated in India
The 2007-2012 Outlook for Mushrooms in India
People Depend on Wild Mushrooms
Tags: India, wild mushrooms
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