They sprout from one day to the next, without warning, they cover the woods making gourmets happy. Wood mushrooms, flap mushrooms, chantarelles, morels, blushers, these are just some of the names of the different varieties of mushrooms that grow in the Italian woods. The relationship between man and mushrooms has always been complicated, maybe because of the dangers of some varieties, because in people’s imagination mushrooms were seen with suspicion because of their link with magical rites.

During the first centuries of Christianity a great number of prejudices and superstitions on mushrooms arose: sons of darkness, tolls of the devil, witches’ friends. It is also said that the Roman emperor Claudius loved them so much that he died because of them. It seems that his wife Agrippina, who wanted her son Nero on the throne, poisoned him with mushrooms. Without overestimating the ability in recognizing them, collecting mushrooms is an enjoying and instructive activity and the lovers of taste and nature, during this period, with their boots and wicker basket, look for them, imagining the best way to eat them. It is one of those jolly dishes with which human imagination can create many delicacies. Raw, for example, in a salad, in bread crumbs, in a pan with oil and garlic, with pasta, rice, polenta, on their own or as a side dish, mushrooms are never banal, but on the contrary they are unpredictable for their flavour, taste and shape. Loved by many people of different countries, the Byelorussians cook them in sour cream on in a barley soup or they prepare a delicious pork steak with mushroom sauce. Even in Italy, from north to south, there are many exquisite recipes.

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute