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Mushroom: A Global History
Known as the meat of the vegetable world, mushrooms have their ardent supporters as well as their fierce detractors. Hobbits go crazy over them, while Diderot thought they should be “sent back to the dung heap where they are born.” In Mushroom , Cynthia D. Bertelsen examines the colorful history of these divisive edible fungi. As she reveals, their story is fraught with murder and accidental death, hunger and gluttony, sickness and health, religion and war. Some cultures equate them with the rottenness of life while others delight in cooking and eating them. And then there are those “magic” mushrooms, which some people link to ancient religious beliefs.
To tell this story, Bertelsen travels to the nineteenth century, when mushrooms entered the realm of haute cuisine after millennia of being picked from the wild for use in everyday cooking and medicine. She describes how this new demand drove entrepreneurs and farmers to seek methods for cultivating mushrooms, including experiments in domesticating the highly sought after but elusive truffles, and she explores the popular pastime of mushroom hunting and includes numerous historic and contemporary recipes. Packed with images of mushrooms from around the globe, this savory book will be essential reading for fans of this surprising, earthy fungus.
To tell this story, Bertelsen travels to the nineteenth century, when mushrooms entered the realm of haute cuisine after millennia of being picked from the wild for use in everyday cooking and medicine. She describes how this new demand drove entrepreneurs and farmers to seek methods for cultivating mushrooms, including experiments in domesticating the highly sought after but elusive truffles, and she explores the popular pastime of mushroom hunting and includes numerous historic and contemporary recipes. Packed with images of mushrooms from around the globe, this savory book will be essential reading for fans of this surprising, earthy fungus.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
10 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
About the author
Cynthia D. Bertelsen
14 books11 followersCynthia D. Bertelsen’s books include Mushroom: A Global History, A Hastiness of Cooks: A Handbook for Deciphering Historic Recipes and Cookbooks, In the Shadow of Ravens: A Novel, Wisdom Soaked in Palm Oil: Journeying Through the Food and Flavors of Africa, and Meatballs & Lefse: Memories and Recipes from a Scandinavian-American Farming Life. “A Hastiness of Cooks” won Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards 2020 for Best in Culinary History category for the U.S. and the world. Meatballs & Lefse placed as a finalist in the 2020/2021 New Generation Indie Book Awards. She writes and cooks in Florida, loves Mexican food, and wants to go back to France someday!
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 13, 2018
This is maybe a comparably low rating, but I think it's one that says more about me and what I wanted from this book than what it's actually doing. Bertelsen provides an overview of the history of mushrooms, venturing all over the world and throughout history. The seven chapters cover mushroom anatomy, and sketches of mushroom history in terms of foraging, cooking, and preserving. I really liked the chapter on the mushrooms' religious and hallucinogenic connotations, and chapter six looked at cultivation in an interesting way (the 19th c sketch of a Paris mushroom growing cave is really cool). Chapter seven is a rather rosy look at the potential of the mushroom, but the appendix on growing mushrooms drew me back in.
There were plenty of tidbits to like about the book: the comparison between Eastern and Western approaches, wearable mushroom-made hats, historical references to mushrooms, very straight-forward accounts of mushroom anatomy. It's a wonderfully accessible book, and for that, I'd recommend it as a good starting point for anyone interested in the subject.
So why the three stars? Honestly, I felt like it rarely dug deep enough into a topic to satisfy me, particularly in regards to the historical elements. To be fair, if it had, it would have lost some of that accessibility, and it's clear that Bertelsen put a lot of value and care into maintaining that aspect of the book. So basically, as I said, it's a case where there's a good book, but its goals and what I'm looking for are two separate things.
There were plenty of tidbits to like about the book: the comparison between Eastern and Western approaches, wearable mushroom-made hats, historical references to mushrooms, very straight-forward accounts of mushroom anatomy. It's a wonderfully accessible book, and for that, I'd recommend it as a good starting point for anyone interested in the subject.
So why the three stars? Honestly, I felt like it rarely dug deep enough into a topic to satisfy me, particularly in regards to the historical elements. To be fair, if it had, it would have lost some of that accessibility, and it's clear that Bertelsen put a lot of value and care into maintaining that aspect of the book. So basically, as I said, it's a case where there's a good book, but its goals and what I'm looking for are two separate things.
January 2, 2014
When I was a kid, if our mother had put mushrooms in front of us for supper, my sister, Diane, and I, would have screamed and run from the table. The idea that anyone in their right mind would serve what science books taught us was "a fungus" and expect us to put it in our mouths revolted us. I hardly ever even ate cheese, so vile did that plastic-y slab seem to me. Not that any such sporous monstrosity would have appeared on our plate; the 1950s American table did not allow for anything more exotic than hamburgers and mashed potatoes; occasionally, a Sunday steak. Side dishes consisted of peas, carrots, green beans, corn. That was it. I was a picky eater, to be sure. Ma had a hard time getting me to try anything beyond my beloved peanut butter (my love for that creamy concoction was so great, I woke one Christmas morning to the sight of a jumbo jar of it bulging out of my Christmas stocking -- Nana had put it there as a joke; I lived on the stuff...)
But oh, how Life and Cirucmstance can transform an unadventurous palate! When a Polish friend, Jolanta Strojek, shared stories of her family's mushroom hunts, escapades into the fields and forests outside her native Krakow -- her folks were poor and often had to make do with whatever they could forage from the woodlands and river banks of an impoverished nation -- I showed interest enough that she brought me on a foraging excursion to the woods behind her home. I had a ball. The joy of the hunt was in me, made even more exhilarating when Jola lit a happy match under a pot of our booty on the stove, turning the mushrooms into one of the most delicious, smoky soups I have ever tasted. Its aromas intoxicated me. Some hearty dark rye bread, homemade, to soak up the rich, musky, brown juices and I was all set!
Charmoon Richardson, too, the still-renowned Sonoma mushroomer, regaled friend, M.F.K. Fisher, and her house guests with gentle, loving tales of his mushroom hunts amid the deep, dark, velvet forest-floors of Northern California, and once whipped us up a mushroom chowder that I have never gotten over. Charmoon's love of the humble fungus so keenly captured me that mushrooms are the first item I look for when planning a special or a holiday meal.
Add now, please, to this personal duo of mushroom revellers the name of food aficionado, author/photographer, Cynthia Bertelsen. I spent several deluxe days in the company of her wonderful, colorful new "Mushroom: A Global History", and can't say enough good things about it.
In a cavalcade of stunning photos and prose, Cynthia accomplishes the near-impossible -- she makes us fall in love with the homely spore. Or is it truly homely? Columns of color, buttons of surprise and delight, each mushroom cap is as individual as a snowflake or a human face. Their humble umbrellas beckon us to come find them and serve them forth. Bertelsen delivers a command premier performance here from start-to-finish.
We realize how marvelous it can be Indian-moccasin-ing a cool pine path and suddenly spot one! -- ruby red, sunny yellow, emerald-pretty sitting in a hidden nest just begging to be picked.
Here, the whole golden world of mushrooms is laid out before us, a treasure chest of history and folklore, knowledge and astonishment. Here, Bertelsen magically turns what could have been an arcane investigation into, instead, an intimate and involved roundelay of mushroom facts and fictions, also, of mouth-watering recipes you will be dying to try yourself...
There is a ravishment of images here, each one more indelibly striking than the last, most of them taken by the author (an accomplished photographer herself -- do be sure to visit her marvelous blog, GHERKINSTOMATOES.COM)
This book makes me hungry. The lids of the meaty, musky toadstools dare us to cook and eat them. Pop one in your mouth and your tastebuds will know Joy! O, Tremendousness! That the gods themselves (and Bertelsen) have blessed us with such gustatory pleasure!
Cozy and pocket-sized, the book is so much more companionable than the Oversized, Overweight coffee table monstrosities I myself
stay away from -- I like to be able to carry a book around with me, especially when I am out-and-about, and "Mushroom: A Global History" is the perfect size and fit --
This is Cynthia Bertelsen's passion project and it shows; every page is filled to bursting with interesting and unusual information. It is a Must-Have for every culinary library. Cooks, mushroom aficionados and just plain lovers of a good book -- get in line for this one! It's an absolute dazzler!
But oh, how Life and Cirucmstance can transform an unadventurous palate! When a Polish friend, Jolanta Strojek, shared stories of her family's mushroom hunts, escapades into the fields and forests outside her native Krakow -- her folks were poor and often had to make do with whatever they could forage from the woodlands and river banks of an impoverished nation -- I showed interest enough that she brought me on a foraging excursion to the woods behind her home. I had a ball. The joy of the hunt was in me, made even more exhilarating when Jola lit a happy match under a pot of our booty on the stove, turning the mushrooms into one of the most delicious, smoky soups I have ever tasted. Its aromas intoxicated me. Some hearty dark rye bread, homemade, to soak up the rich, musky, brown juices and I was all set!
Charmoon Richardson, too, the still-renowned Sonoma mushroomer, regaled friend, M.F.K. Fisher, and her house guests with gentle, loving tales of his mushroom hunts amid the deep, dark, velvet forest-floors of Northern California, and once whipped us up a mushroom chowder that I have never gotten over. Charmoon's love of the humble fungus so keenly captured me that mushrooms are the first item I look for when planning a special or a holiday meal.
Add now, please, to this personal duo of mushroom revellers the name of food aficionado, author/photographer, Cynthia Bertelsen. I spent several deluxe days in the company of her wonderful, colorful new "Mushroom: A Global History", and can't say enough good things about it.
In a cavalcade of stunning photos and prose, Cynthia accomplishes the near-impossible -- she makes us fall in love with the homely spore. Or is it truly homely? Columns of color, buttons of surprise and delight, each mushroom cap is as individual as a snowflake or a human face. Their humble umbrellas beckon us to come find them and serve them forth. Bertelsen delivers a command premier performance here from start-to-finish.
We realize how marvelous it can be Indian-moccasin-ing a cool pine path and suddenly spot one! -- ruby red, sunny yellow, emerald-pretty sitting in a hidden nest just begging to be picked.
Here, the whole golden world of mushrooms is laid out before us, a treasure chest of history and folklore, knowledge and astonishment. Here, Bertelsen magically turns what could have been an arcane investigation into, instead, an intimate and involved roundelay of mushroom facts and fictions, also, of mouth-watering recipes you will be dying to try yourself...
There is a ravishment of images here, each one more indelibly striking than the last, most of them taken by the author (an accomplished photographer herself -- do be sure to visit her marvelous blog, GHERKINSTOMATOES.COM)
This book makes me hungry. The lids of the meaty, musky toadstools dare us to cook and eat them. Pop one in your mouth and your tastebuds will know Joy! O, Tremendousness! That the gods themselves (and Bertelsen) have blessed us with such gustatory pleasure!
Cozy and pocket-sized, the book is so much more companionable than the Oversized, Overweight coffee table monstrosities I myself
stay away from -- I like to be able to carry a book around with me, especially when I am out-and-about, and "Mushroom: A Global History" is the perfect size and fit --
This is Cynthia Bertelsen's passion project and it shows; every page is filled to bursting with interesting and unusual information. It is a Must-Have for every culinary library. Cooks, mushroom aficionados and just plain lovers of a good book -- get in line for this one! It's an absolute dazzler!
November 21, 2024
This is a light and surface level albeit still informative read about, quite obviously, mushrooms. Bertelsen never dives too deep on any of the topics she broaches, which range from historical mentions of mushrooms to a selection of what I assume are her favorite recipes that include the fungal fruit.
This book reads a bit like an extended Wikipedia article, as it calls out a bunch of random information about mushrooms with little or no narrative tying it all together. There are plenty of references, which I appreciate and dutifully updated my want-to-read list as a result. In the style of a crowd-sourced encyclopedia entry, many of the pictures in the book were tangentially related to the material on the page at best, often breaking the flow of the read.
Ultimately this is a fine book; I like mushrooms, so it was an easy and enjoyable experience for me. If it’s not a topic of interest to you, this book is probably skippable.
This book reads a bit like an extended Wikipedia article, as it calls out a bunch of random information about mushrooms with little or no narrative tying it all together. There are plenty of references, which I appreciate and dutifully updated my want-to-read list as a result. In the style of a crowd-sourced encyclopedia entry, many of the pictures in the book were tangentially related to the material on the page at best, often breaking the flow of the read.
Ultimately this is a fine book; I like mushrooms, so it was an easy and enjoyable experience for me. If it’s not a topic of interest to you, this book is probably skippable.
December 14, 2013
Known as the meat of the vegetable world, mushrooms have their ardent supporters as well as their fierce detractors. Hobbits go crazy over them, while Diderot thought they should be “sent back to the dung heap where they are born.” In Mushroom, Cynthia D. Bertelsen examines the colorful history of these divisive edible fungi. As she reveals, their story is fraught with murder and accidental death, hunger and gluttony, sickness and health, religion and war. Some cultures equate them with the rottenness of life while others delight in cooking and eating them. And then there are those “magic” mushrooms, which some people link to ancient religious beliefs. To tell this story, Bertelsen travels to the nineteenth century, when mushrooms entered the realm of haute cuisine after millennia of being picked from the wild for use in everyday cooking and medicine. She describes how this new demand drove entrepreneurs and farmers to seek methods for cultivating mushrooms, including experiments in domesticating the highly sought after but elusive truffles, and she explores the popular pastime of mushroom hunting and includes numerous historic and contemporary recipes. Packed with images of mushrooms from around the globe, this savory book will be essential reading for fans of this surprising, earthy fungus.
March 11, 2022
I've been looking forward to reading this book for a long time. Finally got to it. Was surprised to find that it is illustrated with color photos. Bonus! This slim volume is rich with information that is bound to turn you into a mycophile, if you aren't a mushroom lover already.
Sitting down with it, I did a quick inventory of my relationship with mushrooms. What do I know about them really? After a soaking rain on my property, a dozen or so different varieties emerge from the ground and on trees. I've attempted to identify them, but without confidence. I have a nervous interest in hunting them, with a fear that I'd screw up and eat the wrong one.
Learning to cook on my own, my post-college roomie, one of five siblings, introduced me to the standard casserole layering: meat, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup, veg, potato. She put tater tots on top instead of mashed potatoes. The mushroom soup helped cook the meat and bind the layers adding a bit of flavor but mostly disappearing. I laughed and cheered to turn the page and find a photo of the iconic can of Campbells in the book and a description of exactly that casserole, the go-to for an easy, quick, fortifying, one-pot meal for a large family.
When I was a kid, there was only the one mushroom available in the supermarket. The white ones. My mom sauteed them in butter with a bit of white wine or fried them up. I recall when portobello mushrooms hit the scene. The portobello replacing the burger. Tasty!
This handy book offers up a history of the mushroom across cultures and continents. The mushroom has been looked on by some with derisive suspicion and others with appreciation for an extra food source in times of scarcity. Fun to see mention of mushrooms crop up in literature as well as cookbooks and travel stories.
Our understanding and appreciation of the mushroom is still evolving. Mushrooms have been introduced as a packaging material; for medicinal value; for environmental purposes.
If you happen to be a foodie, references to famous cookbooks either including or excluding mushroom recipes is of interest. There are recipes at the back, antiquated and modern.
Know a mycophile? This'd be a great gift.
Sitting down with it, I did a quick inventory of my relationship with mushrooms. What do I know about them really? After a soaking rain on my property, a dozen or so different varieties emerge from the ground and on trees. I've attempted to identify them, but without confidence. I have a nervous interest in hunting them, with a fear that I'd screw up and eat the wrong one.
Learning to cook on my own, my post-college roomie, one of five siblings, introduced me to the standard casserole layering: meat, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup, veg, potato. She put tater tots on top instead of mashed potatoes. The mushroom soup helped cook the meat and bind the layers adding a bit of flavor but mostly disappearing. I laughed and cheered to turn the page and find a photo of the iconic can of Campbells in the book and a description of exactly that casserole, the go-to for an easy, quick, fortifying, one-pot meal for a large family.
When I was a kid, there was only the one mushroom available in the supermarket. The white ones. My mom sauteed them in butter with a bit of white wine or fried them up. I recall when portobello mushrooms hit the scene. The portobello replacing the burger. Tasty!
This handy book offers up a history of the mushroom across cultures and continents. The mushroom has been looked on by some with derisive suspicion and others with appreciation for an extra food source in times of scarcity. Fun to see mention of mushrooms crop up in literature as well as cookbooks and travel stories.
Our understanding and appreciation of the mushroom is still evolving. Mushrooms have been introduced as a packaging material; for medicinal value; for environmental purposes.
If you happen to be a foodie, references to famous cookbooks either including or excluding mushroom recipes is of interest. There are recipes at the back, antiquated and modern.
Know a mycophile? This'd be a great gift.
May 25, 2021
This book contains some real interesting facts scattered amongst a lot of information on recipes.
That isn't a problem and this book is probably super interesting for some people to read... Just not this person.
That isn't a problem and this book is probably super interesting for some people to read... Just not this person.
June 12, 2022
I've been looking forward to this volume, since I love mushrooms, and it didn't disappoint. The structure is easy to follow and presents a pretty good overview of mushroom history, cultivation, culinary uses, etc. Obviously not the most in-depth look at the subject, but Edible books never are.
May 19, 2016
Short, fascinating, and beautifully laid out with full-colour pictures.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews