What Is The Cultural Significance Of Mushrooms?

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For thousands of years, mushrooms have had a major impact on human society. Mushrooms have played numerous roles in human culture, ranging from folklore and religion to traditional medicine and healing. Pretty impressive for an unassuming organism! This post will explore mushroom benefits, the cultural significance of mushrooms, and the various ways they have been used from ancient to modern times.

Food, Glorious Food

Mushrooms have played a significant role in the cuisines of many different cultures throughout history because of their unique umami flavors, textures, and nutritional properties. In Mexican cuisine, huitlacoche, also known as corn smut, is a type of fungus that grows on corn. It is considered a delicacy and is used as a filling in traditional dishes like tamales and quesadillas.

In China, mushrooms such as shiitake, wood ear, and reishi are staples of many dishes, including stir-fries, soups, and dumplings. Porcini mushrooms are a key ingredient in many classic Italian dishes for their meaty texture and earthy flavor. And truffles, a type of underground mushroom, are highly prized for their intense, earthy flavor and are used in high-end French cuisine.

Higher States of Consciousness

One of the most well-known cultural applications of mushrooms is for spiritual and religious purposes. Mushrooms have a spiritual significance in many indigenous cultures. For instance, psilocybin mushrooms are used in traditional healing ceremonies by the Mazatec people of Mexico, who believe they facilitate communication with the dead.

Also, Amanita muscaria mushrooms have a documented history of use in Siberian shamanism ¹ due to the widespread belief that these mushrooms possess significant psychotropic properties that enable shamans to communicate with spirits and predict the future.

Mother Nature’s Medicine

For thousands of years, ancient cultures all over the world have used mushrooms as a natural remedy. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), mushrooms are used to boost the immune system, increase longevity, and prevent disease thanks to their adaptogenic properties. It is believed that reishi ², one of the most popular TCM medicinal mushrooms, has anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and anti-aging properties. Allergies, asthma, liver disease, and even cancer are just some of the conditions for which TCM practitioners prescribe reishi.

In Japan, shiitake is widely used as a medicinal mushroom due to its purported ability to strengthen the immune system and fight cancer. High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and hepatitis are just some of the conditions that shiitake has been known to help with. In addition, the polysaccharides found in shiitake mushrooms are being extensively researched for their potential to boost the immune system's response to infectious diseases. Medicinal mushrooms have come a long way through the ages, and it remains a vital area of scientific study today.

Funghi Faerie Folk

Mushrooms have also been mentioned in numerous legends and myths. They feature in the folklore of many cultures and are believed to possess magical powers. It was widely held in British culture that mushrooms were the sustenance of fairies and other enchanted beings. Fairy dances and other ethereal ceremonies were thought to take place in the fairy ring—a circle of mushrooms. In German folklore, creatures called pilzgeist are said to inhabit mushrooms and cause trouble and mischief to those who destroy their homes.

The magic properties of mushrooms are explored far outside these countries. In Slavic folklore, the infamous witch Baba Yaga ³ would use mushrooms to fly through the air and would punish people who disrespected them. The Native American Ojibwe people have a folktale about a girl who finds her way home after getting lost in the forest after receiving the help of a mushroom. And the Amanita muscaria has been suggested as the mysterious plant used to make soma—an ancient Vedic drink described in the Rigveda, one of the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.

Art Imitates Life

Mushrooms have been featured in works of art throughout history. From prehistoric cave paintings to contemporary illustrations and paintings, artists love mushrooms as their subjects. Cave paintings at Tassili n’Ajjer in Algeria from as long as 9,000 years ago depict shamans ⁴ using psychoactive mushrooms. In the 17th century, Otto Marseus van Schrieck, a Dutch artist became renowned for his still-life paintings of mushrooms and forest scenes. More recently, abstract art pieces by Cy Twombly frequently feature mushrooms as well.

Outside of the galleries and museums, mushrooms are all over the place—from the psychedelic imagery of the 1960s counterculture to the mushroom kingdom of the Super Mario Bros video game series. Classic movie lovers may remember the mushroom dance from Fantasia, a Walt Disney film from 1940. And a glowing and dancing magic mushroom fills the forest with light and color in the 1988 animation "My Neighbor Totoro". In "Star Trek: Discovery", Lieutenant Paul Stamets is an 'astromycologist': an outer-space fungi expert who powered a spaceship with cosmic fungi.

To sum up, fungi have always had an important place in human history and culture. In addition to being used as food, their association with magic and fairy tales has helped solidify their place in popular culture. Today, scientists are looking at mushrooms for potential applications in drug discovery, bioremediation, and renewable energy, making them an important resource for research. With their out-of-this-world properties, seems that mushrooms will continue to be a large part of our lives for centuries to come.

Additional resources and citations

1
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29741535/
2
https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-reishi-mushrooms
3
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319162721_Baba_Yaga_and_the_Mushrooms
4
https://www.openculture.com/2021/01/algerian-cave-paintings-suggest-humans-did-magic-mushrooms-9000-years-ago.html