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A Study of Cultural Bias in Field Guide Determinations of Mushroom Edibility Using the
Iconic Mushroom, Amanita muscaria, as an Example. Mushroom field guides teach identif-
ication skills as well as provide information on the edible or toxic qualities of each species of
wild mushroom. As such they function as modern-day village elders for an increasingly urban,
nature-ignorant population. This paper identifies underlying cultural bias in the determination
of mushroom edibility in English-language field guides, using the iconic mushroom, Amanita
muscaria, as an example. We explore a selection of ethnographic and medical texts that
report the use of A. muscaria as a food, and we accept parboiling as a safe method of
detoxifying it for the dinner table. Mushroom field guides, however, almost universally label
the mushroom as poisonous. We discuss the cultural underpinnings and literary form of
mushroom field guides and demonstrate that they work within a mostly closed intellectual
system that ironically shares many of the same limitations of cultural bias found in traditional
folk cultures, but with the pretense of being modern and scientific.
Key Words: Edibility, field guides, mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, mushroom edibility,
mushroom field guides, field guide bias.
Amanita muscaria is known in most English- mushroom field guides as being poisonous (e.g.,
language field guides as the fly agaric or fly Smith and Weber 1980; Lincoff 1981; Arora
amanita. Steeped in milk, it has been widely used 1986; McKnight 1987; Hall et al. 2003; Miller
to attract flies; the flies become intoxicated by the and Miller 2006), even deadly (e.g., Groves 1962;
infusion and then drown (Wasson and Wasson Phillips 1991).
1957:190; Michelot and Melendez-Howell As we will show, 19th-century investigators
2003). But A. muscaria is also known as an from various disciplines established that the
inebriant. In parts of Siberia where alcohol was mushroom could easily be detoxified by parboil-
unknown, the recreational use of A. muscaria was ing it. This understanding was widely published
well documented in the 18th century (e.g., von in the 19th-century medical and toxicological
Strahlenberg 1736). Its modern use as an literature but was ignored and decisively rejected
inebriant is also well known (Letcher 2007; by English-language mushroom field guide
Erowid 2008). authors of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson (1968) The rejection was so thorough that knowledge
gained renown by focusing on its religious rather of A. muscaria’s food use appears to have
than recreational use, for example, by proposing effectively been lost by the late 20th century.
that A. muscaria is the enigmatic Soma praised in Contemporary field guide authors continue to
ancient Vedic texts. His theories have gained emphasize (and often exaggerate) the toxicity of
currency in some circles but are still controversial A. muscaria, seldom mention that anyone eats it,
(Letcher 2007). A standard dose as an inebriant is and fail to provide precise and accurate instruc-
one to two caps (Greville 1823; Lincoff and tions on how to detoxify it. As a result, A.
Mitchel 1977); an upset stomach may or may not muscaria is rarely picked for the dinner table
result. The active principle was long believed to except by those who inherit a local or family
be muscarine—isolated from A. muscaria in 1869 tradition of eating it.
and the first mushroom toxin ever identified.
Much later, however, it was demonstrated that The Toxicity of Amanita muscaria
muscarine, while found in a number of other English-language mushroom field guides agree
mushrooms, occurs in such minute quantities that Amanita muscaria is poisonous and should
in A. muscaria as to be clinically insignificant not be eaten (“This is a dangerous fungus and
(Lincoff and Mitchel 1977; Benjamin 1995). It is should be avoided”—Miller 1972:32; see also
ibotenic acid and muscimol (a more potent, McIlvaine and Macadam 1902; Marshall 1905;
decarboxylated version of ibotenic acid) that pro- Güssow and Odell 1927; Smith 1975; Arora
duce its inebriating effects (Takemoto et al. 1964; 1979; Lincoff 1981; Fergus and Fergus 2003;
Bowden and Drysdale 1965; Eugster et al. 1965). etc.). In many of these cited works, the authors
Both of the latter compounds are water soluble mention the possibility of A. muscaria being fatal.
and, as we will show, can easily be removed from Some authors even classify it as deadly (Gibson
the mushroom by parboiling it and then discard- 1899; Krieger 1936), and the mushroom guide
ing the liquid. It should be noted that we use the belonging to the prestigious Peterson Field Guide
term “parboil” in this paper to mean precook by series (McKnight 1987) marks A. muscaria with
boiling, as per the third definition of Rombauer the universally intimidating skull-and-crossbones
et al. (2006:1054). It should also be noted that the symbol.
dangerously poisonous, amanitin-containing spe- Yet in researching this article, we were unable
cies, e.g., A. phalloides Secr., cannot be detoxified to find a single adult death in North America
by any normal cooking or processing method, and indisputably caused by A. muscaria. Recent
are not discussed hereafter. literature typically lumps poisoning by A. musca-
Despite being common, easy to identify, and ria with poisoning by the closely related but
an excellent savory mushroom after parboiling significantly more toxic A. pantherina (DC.)
(Arora 2000; Rubel 2000), and despite a long- Krombh. (Lincoff and Mitchell 1977; Benjamin
standing, albeit scattered, tradition of being eaten 1995; Michelot and Melendez-Howell 2003).
as a food in the European, Russian, North Furthermore, during the 19th and 20th centuries,
American, and Japanese countrysides, A. muscaria atropine (the active principle of deadly night-
is almost universally characterized by modern shade, Atropa belladonna L.) was commonly
226 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 62
prescribed as an antidote to A. muscaria poisoning even thousands, of adults who have used A.
in the mistaken belief that muscarine was the muscaria as an intoxicant in North America have
principal toxin. Atropine, however, may aggravate directly died from doing so (McDonald
the symptoms of A. muscaria ingestion (Mitchel 1978:225), and early reports of A. muscaria usage
1980). These variables complicate research into as an inebriant in Siberia were not accompanied
A. muscaria poisoning, but if A. muscaria has by references to fatalities.
caused fatalities in North America, they have
been few and far between. The only fatality cited Early Literature on the Edibility
by modern authors (Benjamin 1995:313) is that of Amanita muscaria
of Count de Vecchi, legate to the Italian Embassy The documentation of historic Amanita mus-
in Washington, D.C., who allegedly died of A. caria food use is sparse, though persistent, and
muscaria poisoning in 1897 after dining on two includes Europe, Asia, and North America. Most
dozen (!) mushrooms purchased in a local market accounts merely mention its use as a food, but
(Prentiss 1898). Though his death has been omit information on its safe detoxification. This
linked repeatedly with A. muscaria (e.g., Jordan dichotomy in the literature does not pertain only
1917:20), we use the word allegedly because it is to A. muscaria or only to English-language field
impossible from the published accounts to guides. See, for example, French mycologist
reconstruct exactly what he died from; indeed, Roget Heim’s mention of the “poisonous” Boletus
there is enough uncertainty to justify a separate satanas Lenz being eaten by some people while
article on the subject. The second most-often failing to describe how “some people” detoxified
cited death by A. muscaria poisoning after that of the mushroom (Heim 1963:176).
Count de Vecchi is that of the Czar Alexis of The most explicit, widely-circulated, early
Russia (e.g., Marshall 1905; Hard 1908)—in account in English of A. muscaria’s use in the
1679! But authors do not agree on whether it was kitchen was by German physician and naturalist
the Czar or the Czar’s wife who was poisoned George Heinrich von Langsdorf, brought into
(Douglass 1917a). the English-language literature as part of Robert
A few mushrooms with histories of being eaten Greville’s influential presentation to the Wer-
have been shown to be quite dangerous. Gyromi- narian Natural History Society in 1823. In
tra esculenta (Pers.) Fr., for example, is popular in Greville’s (1823:344) translation: “[in Siberia it]
northern Europe but has caused deaths when not is sometimes eaten fresh in soups and sauces,
properly prepared, in part because there is a and then loses much of its intoxicating proper-
narrow dosage threshold between serious symp- ties.” While his translation might be construed
toms and a complete absence of them (Benjamin to allow for the possibility of savory dishes that
1995). Another mushroom, Paxillus involutus intoxicate slightly, it is more likely that the
(Batsch) Fr., has a history of being eaten in mushrooms were detoxified by being first
Europe but can cause severe allergic reactions in parboiled, which would be consistent with the
people who have eaten it for years. A. muscaria, Russian method for detoxifying “poisonous”
however, does not have such a record, and an mushrooms described by Pallas (1794:76) from
adult who eats one or two caps, even uncooked, his visit to a region near Moscow. It is also
does not, according to the literature, risk such consistent with our experience of current prac-
severe consequences. The fatal human dose for A. tice in Russia (as well as Lithuania), where many
muscaria has not been determined. Benjamin or most species of wild mushrooms are first
(1995:309) speculated that 15 caps would be boiled in water, drained, and then used as an
fatal, but it is unclear whether he was referring to ingredient in a dish.
A. muscaria or to the more toxic A. pantherina. While von Langsdorf’s detailed descriptions of
Lincoff and Mitchel (1977) reported a man who A. muscaria’s use as an inebriant in Siberia were
ate 20 caps and survived, but also did not specify subsequently cited (e.g., Christison 1829:653),
which species he ate. Many websites mention a his description of its use as a food was never cited
fatality caused by the consumption of 20 or “two again. But there were other mentions of kitchen
dozen” A. muscaria caps, but these apparently use of A. muscaria—in, for example, Charles
refer back to the unfortunate Count de Vecchi. David Badham’s (1863) book, A treatise on the
What is known is that none of the hundreds, esculent funguses of England. Its use as a food in
2008] RUBEL & ARORA: EDIBILITY, BIAS, AND AMANITA MUSCARIA 227
Russia was noted in the Annals of Horticulture A. muscaria, he did not argue that it was a
(1848:423), by Cooke (1880:211), and by traditional food someplace else, like in Italy or
William Delisle Hay (1887:154), who wrote, Russia, but simply that through scientific meth-
“The plant is eaten both in North Russia and in ods he had determined it could easily be rendered
Southern France, but of course [emphasis ours] safe to eat. He was also saying that mushrooms
after being boiled and washed.” These, plus more could be thought of in the same way we think of
general references to “poisonous” mushrooms other foods that are edible, and that by analogy
being eaten in the Russian and European what he was doing to A. muscaria was no more
countrysides (e.g., Pallas 1794; Porcher 1854; extreme than detoxifying manioc.
Whetstone 1898:263) formed a backdrop to the One of Pouchet’s experiments was to boil five
more precise work on A. muscaria detoxification A. muscaria caps per liter of water for 15 minutes.
published in the 19th-century medical and He strained out the mushrooms and fed the broth
toxicological literature. to dogs, who died, thus demonstrating that the
During the 19th century, efforts were made to toxins were water soluble. But he also fed dogs
prove in a methodical way that A. muscaria, as boiled caps without the broth, and they thrived,
well as various other “poisonous” mushrooms, thus demonstrating that the caps were no longer
could be made safe for the dinner table. A French poisonous. (Note: smaller dogs are cheaper to
physician, Dr. Félix Archimčde Pouchet, was maintain for experimental purposes than large
especially influential in establishing the efficacy ones, so we can infer that five caps for one of
of boiling A. muscaria to remove its toxins, but he Pouchet’s dogs is equivalent to 20 or more caps
had a distinctly practical quest: he was looking for a human adult.)
for a way to unlock the nutrition tied up in wild Pouchet’s experiments were widely described.
mushrooms that the rural poor were not Reese (1874:346) said in his manual on toxicol-
collecting because they thought them poisonous. ogy, “A third [dog] which was fed [by Pouchet]
In this quest to use “poisonous” mushrooms to on boiled amanitas for two months actually
help feed the poor, he was inspired by the root fattened on this food.” Pouchet’s experiments
crop manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz), de- were also cited in the standard medical references
scribed by one of his contemporaries (Taylor of that era, for example in Medical Jurisprudence
1859:626) as follows: (Wharton et al. 1860:569; Wharton et al.
1873:470; Wharton and Stillé 1882:675). In all
The root of one variety of this West Indian plant, of the above cases, the edibility of parboiled A.
known under the name Bitter Cassava, contains in its
muscaria was accepted as fact.
juice prussic [hydrocyanic] acid. It is, therefore, when
recently expressed, highly poisonous, inducing coma, While Pouchet, to demonstrate edibility,
convulsions, and death... The vegetable principles of experimented on animals, another Frenchman,
the plant, evaporated to dryness, form what is called M. Gerard, experimented on himself, and on his
Cassava-cake, which is not only inert, by reason [of] family. In 1851, Gerard demonstrated that A.
the poison being volatized, but highly nutritious. muscaria, along with a number of other “poison-
The starch obtained from this root is well known ous” mushrooms, could be safely eaten if par-
under the name Tapioca. Neither cassava nor tapioca boiled (Gerard 1852). He was also widely cited in
yields any trace of prussic acid. the 19th-century toxicological literature. Here is
Gerard’s recipe for A. muscaria as translated by
Pouchet (1839:323) explicitly acknowledged the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation
the example of manioc. As he put it (translated (1853: 261):
from the original French by the authors),
To every five hundred grams of mushrooms cut up
Manioc forms the staple nourishment of a large into a medium size, a liter of water, slightly
number of people but has in its tissues the most acidulated by two or three spoonfuls of vinegar (or,
violent of poisons; through skill, man extracts the if nothing else is on hand, gray salt), should be used.
poison from the nutritive part, and we think that If [only] water alone can be obtained, this must be
science could do the same for mushrooms. renewed once or twice. In this fluid the fungi are to
be macerated for two entire hours, after which they
Pouchet’s reference to manioc was a conceptual are to be washed in an abundance of water. Next,
breakthrough. In suggesting that the French eat they are to be put into cold water and boiled for half
228 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 62
an hour, after which they may be taken out, washed, served as Chief Botanist for the United States
dried, and used as food. Department of Agriculture and as Chairman of
the National Geographic Society Research Com-
Interest in Gerard’s work was so great that it mittee, and was the first director of the United
was republished a decade later, again in English, States National Arboretum. Coville published a
under the title, “A simple means of removing the report on Amanita muscaria in 1898 for the
poisonous properties of suspicious mushrooms” United States Department of Agriculture as part
(Gerard 1863), and it was cited in Hay’s (1887) of an investigation into the death by mushroom
book on British mushrooms. It is worth noting poisoning of Count de Vecchi of Washington,
Gerard’s use of vinegar. This use may be traceable D.C. In this work, entitled Observations on Recent
to Jean Jacques Paulet, a French botanist and Cases of Mushroom Poisoning in the District of
mycologist who was credited with demonstrating Columbia, Coville exhibited a reasonably solid
in 1776 that “the mode in which... [mushrooms] grasp of the scientific understanding of the
were cooked” affected toxicity, and that salt and edibility of A. muscaria. He went to the market
vinegar were particularly helpful in this regard where the Count had purchased the mushrooms
(Lindley 1836:422). that allegedly poisoned him and, remarkably,
The belief in the edibility of parboiled A. discovered A. muscaria being eaten in Washing-
muscaria was apparently not a controversial one in ton, D.C.!
the 19th-century American medical community.
Dr. Francis Porcher cited most of the above It is well known that in some parts of Europe the
sources (including Pouchet) in his report to the fly amanita, after the removal of the poison by
American Medical Association entitled The Med- treatment with vinegar, is a common article of food.
ical, Poisonous, and Dietetic Properties of the It was interesting to discover not long since that
Cryptogamic Plants of the United States (Porcher among some of our own people the practice prevails.
1854). He also cited several sources as saying of Though most of the colored women of the markets
A. muscaria that, “in the middle of France they look upon the species with horror, one of them
had constantly been in the habit of eating them” recited in detail how she was in the habit of cooking
it. She prepared the stem by scraping, the cap by
(Porcher 1854:61). Of the ethnographic literature
removing the gills and peeling the upper surface.
in general, he concluded that what was written Thus dressed the mushrooms were first boiled in salt
was really true: that many poisonous mushrooms and water, and afterwards steeped in vinegar. They
could be rendered edible through knowledgeable were then washed in clear water, cooked in gravy like
processing. In his own words, “There is no reason ordinary mushrooms, and served with beefsteak. This
to doubt the fact that sorts justly esteemed is an exceedingly interesting operation from the fact
poisonous are really used [author’s emphasis]” that although its author was wholly ignorant of the
(Porcher 1854:47). Porcher’s work, with its chemistry of mushroom poisons, she had neverthe-
imprimatur of the American Medical Association, less been employing a process for the removal of
was also cited in the aforementioned and influ- these poisons which was scientifically correct.
ential Medical Jurisprudence (Wharton et al. 1860; (Coville 1898: 19)
Wharton et al. 1873; Wharton and Stillé 1882).
At the end of the 19th century, the noted Coville’s work stands as a model for writers
American botanist, Charles Peck (1895:214), in today. While Coville was not a mushroom expert,
an extensive passage on the use of A. muscaria as a he reviewed the scientific literature, the ethno-
food, described Americans who detoxified A. graphic literature, and did his own field work.
muscaria with vinegar and/or water. But the most Although he did not go on to recommend that
detailed, objective, and accurate description of its his readers eat A. muscaria, he used his under-
edibility was written in 1898 by Frederick standing of mushroom toxicology to explain the
Vernon Coville, a distinguished botanist, explor- findings of his field research and to reconcile
er, and ethnographer, who authored 170 books the two. He unambiguously concluded that “after
and articles (but who, significantly, was not a the two treatments the mushroom is free from
mushroom field guide author). Coville was the poisons.” Thus he is notable for using the science
first to discover the importance of soil acidity to of his day to explain why a folk method of
blueberries; he also wrote books on desert plants, detoxification was effective.
2008] RUBEL & ARORA: EDIBILITY, BIAS, AND AMANITA MUSCARIA 229
one hundred years, it is evident that McIlvaine tion on who ate A. muscaria nor did he give any
and Carter presaged a 20th-century shift toward details for safely preparing it.
using increasingly sophisticated laboratory techni- But no major field guide author so fully
ques to study toxins and toxicity while abandon- embodies the dichotomy between the careful
ing Pouchet’s quest to use science as a means of and scholarly treatment of mushroom taxonomy
learning how to safely detoxify mushrooms for and the idiosyncratic treatment of mushroom
the table. edibility as Alexander Smith, the preeminent
The first comprehensive academic treatment of North American mushroom taxonomist of the
North American agarics was written by Prof. 20th century. Smith authored approximately 200
Charles Henry Kauffman (1918). Kauffman gave articles and books over a long and distinguished
a detailed morphological description of Amanita career and named many new species. He dedicat-
muscaria in which he called it “deadly poisonous,” ed his first field guide for the general public,
saying, “It is a delightful object for the artistic eye Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats (Smith
of the nature lover but in all other respects a 1948), to his mentor, the aforementioned Charles
menace.” Yet buried in the appendix of this same Kauffman, and labeled A. muscaria as poisonous,
field guide (Kauffman 1918; 1971 reprint: 841– thus following Kauffman (1918) as well as
842) is a section called “Treatment of Amanita Gibson (1899), McIlvaine and Macadam
muscaria poisoning,” written by Dr. O. E. (1902), Marshall (1905), and Krieger (1936),
Fischer, who, significantly, was not a mycologist among others, in rejecting or ignoring the 19th-
but a medical doctor, like Porcher and Douglass. century toxicological and ethnographic literature.
Fischer cited A. muscaria as being eaten as food in Like Gibson (1899), Smith attributed stories of
Saxony and Bohemia. He also cited Coville, and people safely eating A. muscaria to misidentifica-
gave the African-American market woman’s rec- tion. He even speculated that the people were
ipe for its safe preparation. probably eating A. frostiana Peck, a North
Writing ten years later, William Sturgis Thomas, American species unknown in Europe and Asia.
president of the New York Mycological Society and Smith’s next work for the general public was A
author of the mushroom volume (Thomas 1928) in Mushroom Hunter’s Field Guide (1958, 1963), a
Putnam’s Nature Field Books series, based most of book that sold 100,000 copies and was hailed as
his mushroom edibility information on Peck. the “first modern [mushroom] field guide for
Incredibly, however, he skipped over the informa- amateurs” (Thiers 1987). In the first version of
tion that Peck (1895) provided on the use of A. this book, Smith (1958:136) said this of A.
muscaria as food, just as Marshall had purposefully muscaria:
dropped Coville’s authoritative information on its
detoxification. Poisonous. If someone claims to know how to
The next important field guide mention of A. cook it so that it is edible, do not argue with him,
muscaria being eaten was in The Mushroom but do not eat any. Apparently there are ways of
Handbook (1936), by Louis Krieger. A mycolog- extracting the poison, but the risk is not worth the
effort.
ical bibliographer, Krieger was conversant in
English, French, and German, and his knowledge
of the relevant literature was second to none. It is unclear to us what Smith’s reasons were
Perhaps reflecting the prevailing climate of for saying not to argue the point (because it truly
hostility toward drugs (the notorious anti-drug is edible?), or what the “effort” is that he refers to.
movie, Reefer Madness, was also released in 1936), But in the second “revised and enlarged” version
Krieger chose to exaggerate the intoxicating of the same book, Smith (1963:177) labeled A.
effects of raw A. muscaria by describing, appar- muscaria “poisonous,” and then immediately
ently without basis, Siberian villages full of went on to say,
“intoxicated people running amok with drawn However, some people extract the poison and then
knives and false courage endanger[ing] the lives of eat the mushroom, apparently with no ill effects.
their fellows.” Regarding the edibility of A. They claim it is a most delicious species. The
muscaria, Krieger stated, “This species, though instructions, as I have heard them, are to parboil
known to be deadly, is eaten without ill effects by the specimens in salt water until no more yellow
some people.” He provided no specific informa- scum comes to the surface...
2008] RUBEL & ARORA: EDIBILITY, BIAS, AND AMANITA MUSCARIA 231
As we can find no other specific mention in the idea that anyone is immune to its toxins and
mushroom literature of “yellow scum,” we con- could eat as many non-detoxified specimens as
clude that Smith was in touch with credible they wanted without becoming intoxicated or
informants who regularly ate A. muscaria and nauseous or worse. Smith cited no references for
considered it delicious. But he provided no his extraordinary claim that non-detoxified A.
information about who these people were, and, muscaria is edible for some people, but the phrase
unlike Coville, he didn’t stand behind his own “some people can eat this species and suffer no ill
ethnographic report. Instead, he went on to tell effects” is almost verbatim from Krieger (1936/
readers that if they tried the detoxification 1967 reprint: 238–239).
method he had just described, that they did so Despite his inconsistencies, his apparent dis-
at their own risk (Smith 1963:177). Smith’s trust of his own findings, and his failure to use
distrust of his own finding suggests that he was science to support (or debunk) folk detoxification
unaware of the substantial body of l9th-century techniques, Smith deserves credit for breaking
literature on the subject, and furthermore, that with his 20th-century predecessors in publishing
this body of knowledge regarding A. muscaria’s accounts of A. muscaria’s usage as food. Smith
edibility had already effectively vanished. Further- was a mushroom taxonomist, not an ethnogra-
more, Smith seems to have made no personal pher, and he did not often report ethnographic
effort to verify the efficacy of parboiling A. uses of mushrooms in his books. He clearly did
muscaria, an indication of his and his culture’s not trust the detoxification procedure he de-
lack of interest in wild mushrooms as food. Thus scribed for A. muscaria, and strongly recommen-
he was clearly working within the same intellec- ded against employing it. Yet, in four books
tual framework as the 18th-century English field spanning more than 20 years he repeatedly
guide author William Curtis, one in which the described or alluded to this same detoxification
accuracy of the edibility information is not as procedure which he distrusted. Why would he do
important as that of the taxonomic information. so when it would have been so much easier not to
In Smith’s 1975 work, A Field Guide to mention it being eaten and simply to agree with
Western Mushrooms, under the description of A. the 20th-century field guide consensus that A.
muscaria, he reverted to labeling it poisonous and muscaria was poisonous? We think his repeated
dropped the reference to detoxification (Smith references to detoxification point to food use of A.
1975:167). However, as in Kauffman (1918), muscaria in North America consisting not of
there is completely different information buried isolated instances, but of a tradition sufficiently
in the chapter on mushroom poisoning, namely, developed and widespread enough that Smith
the unambiguous statement “People who know anticipated some of his readers encountering it,
how to boil the poison out of it use it as an and thus felt compelled to inform them of it.
esculent” (Smith 1975:15). Five years later, in the Though Smith was a highly respected mush-
revised edition of The Mushroom Hunter’s Field room expert, his repeated references to the use of
Guide (Smith and Weber 1980:171–172), Smith A. muscaria as an esculent were ignored by
once again changed his position, or at least his subsequent field guide authors (e.g., McKenny
emphasis. Instead of continuing to characterize A. and Stuntz 1971; Miller 1972; Guild 1977; Arora
muscaria as “poisonous,” he broke with his own 1979, 1986; Lincoff 1981; Fischer and Bessette
past as well as with the entire history of 1992; Jordan and Wheeler 1995; Bessette et al.
mushroom field guides by labeling it as “poison- 1997), suggesting a broad cultural bias against
ous to most people,” thus implying that some taking ethnographic references to mushroom food
people are immune to its toxins and can eat it use seriously when they contradict prevailing
with impunity. Smith then went on to say that practices. However, we find Smith’s allusions
“some people can eat this species and suffer no ill tantalizing.
effects; others parboil the specimens and discard In addition to the aforementioned references
the liquid...” by Peck, and more specifically to the food use of
While specimens of A. muscaria vary in the A. muscaria by African-Americans in America’s
amounts of toxins they contain (Benedict 1972), South, we surmise that there was, and may still
and while individuals may vary in their sensitivity be, an undocumented tradition of eating A.
to the toxins, there is no literature to support the muscaria in North America. Besides Smith, who
232 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 62
collected mushrooms extensively in the Pacific can make A. muscaria safe to eat is The Mushroom
Northwest and Midwest, Chilton (in Rumack Manual by Lorentz Pearson (1987). Citing the
and Salzman 1978:112) mentioned a “few people Swedish field guide author Bengt Cortin, who
in Europe and North America” preparing A. personally tested more than 300 species of wild
muscaria for the table. He described a procedure mushrooms including many of doubtful edibility,
similar to that of Coville’s African-American Pearson (1987:61) offered the following detoxifi-
market woman, though without the final soaking cation method:
in vinegar. Lincoff and Mitchel (1977:85) men-
tioned unconfirmed reports from the Pacific To render Amanita muscaria safe to eat: (1)
Northwest of people who “eat the Fly Agaric as carefully peel the cap, removing every bit of the
a food after peeling the cap, parboiling the peeled pellis or rind...; (2) cut into relatively small bits; (3)
mushrooms, discarding the cooking water, and place the bits in boiling water and boil for exactly five
recooking them,” but, like so many 20th-century minutes; (4) discard the water, and boil again in
authors, they warned against doing so. Denis fresh, boiling water for an additional five minutes;
Benjamin (pers. comm.) reports similar usage of (5) discard the water and prepare the mushroom in
A. muscaria in the Pacific Northwest during the the usual way.
1980s, with one man telling him that his family
had been eating A. muscaria as food for three Paradoxically, however, just as references to A.
generations. muscaria food use were buried in chapters on
We have also encountered people who eat A. poisoning in Kauffman (1918) and Smith (1975),
muscaria as food, both in Europe and North the above recipe was placed in a chapter
America. One such person, a man living in the ominously titled “The Fatal Five,” thereby
Sierra Nevada foothills of California, actually severely undercutting its impact. As we have
came to doubt the safety of his family’s tradition already noted, other English-language field guide
of eating parboiled A. muscaria based on what he authors have not followed up on Smith’s descrip-
had read in Arora’s (1986) field guide. The man tion of A. muscaria’s edibility, nor on Pearson’s
asked Arora if there were any long-term ill effects rendition of Cortin’s precise instructions.
from dining on parboiled A. muscaria because he By the end of the 20st century, mention of the
hadn’t noticed any short-term ill effects. It is use of parboiled A. muscaria as a food had been
difficult to imagine rural Tibetans or Mayans who practically expunged from the written record.
had been taught by their parents how to safely Kenneth Lampe (1979:95), in a pharmacological
prepare a particular mushroom losing confidence review of toxic mushrooms, stated, “Cooking
because of what was written in a book. But in does not markedly affect [its] activity,” and
20th-century North America, the prestige of the Didier Michelot and Leda Maria Melendez-
written word was such that this rural man sought Howell (2003), two scientists favorably disposed
assurance for something that he had been doing towards A. muscaria, wrote in an otherwise well-
all his life, and he ironically sought it from a field researched paper that “Contrary to some statements,
guide author who had never (at that time) eaten it cooking does not notably lower toxicity, demon-
as a food, and, unaware of the 19th-century strating that the active components are not heat
understanding that it was edible, had merely sensitive.” Michelot and Melendez-Howell wanted
repeated the 20th-century consensus that it to show that the mushroom could be detoxified and
wasn’t. As a result of this encounter and further then eaten for dinner, but the late 20th-century
research with Alan Phipps in Sanada, Japan, literature that they worked with no longer included
where A. muscaria is an esteemed edible mush- the 19th-century knowledge that the toxins in A.
room (Wasson and Wasson 1957; Arora 2000; muscaria are water soluble. Thus they didn’t realize
Phipps 2000), Arora has changed his assessment that “cooking” per se, i.e., the application of heat,
of the edibility of A. muscaria and now considers does not detoxify A. muscaria, but that boiling it in
it to be a delicious edible mushroom if parboiled. water does. Their failure to match the correct
This information, however, has not yet made its cooking method to the mushroom testifies to a
way into his field guides (Arora 1986, 1991). more general failure on the part of the literature
The only modern English-language field guide (and especially mushroom field guides) to be more
we have found that categorically states that one accurate and explicit in reporting the well-
2008] RUBEL & ARORA: EDIBILITY, BIAS, AND AMANITA MUSCARIA 233
established fact that A. muscaria’s toxins are water better known umami agent, MSG. In contrast to
soluble. parboiling, Phipps found that both grilling and
drying, far from detoxifying the mushroom,
Recent Food Use of Amanita muscaria convert some of the ibotenic acid into the much
outside North America more potent compound, muscimol (Phipps
This work focuses on English-language field 2000:52–58). Phipps’ work offers a model for
guides. A methodical survey of mushroom field combining ethnographic research with laboratory
guides from Europe and Asia would be instruc- science to clarify the role of basic culinary
tive. As an example of what one is likely to processes—drying, grilling, roasting, frying, boil-
find, the Swedish author Bengt Cortin (1942) ing—in eliminating or concentrating mushroom
wrote (translated by Eric Danell), “Nowadays it toxins.
has been determined, that this poisonous mush-
room is harmless if treated in the right way.” Amanita muscaria: A Special
The literature that supports that statement Mushroom but Not a Special Case
would be well worth knowing. An Italian author, The consistent labeling of A. muscaria as
Bruno Cetto (1994) mentioned A. muscaria poisonous and the failure of modern field guides
being eaten as a food in contemporary Italy. to acknowledge its use as food is by no means a
Lucius von Frieden (1964) also mentioned it special case. Many other mushrooms that can be
being eaten in Europe. But neither author made edible through knowledgeable processing
provided concrete details, and both focused on are routinely dismissed as “poisonous” or not
the broader national attitude towards A. muscaria edible in mushroom field guides, whether out of
rather than on regional practices that deviated bias, ignorance, or both. For example, B. luridus
from the norm. Even so, the mention of A. Schaeff., B. erythropus sensu auct. mult., and
muscaria use as food in parts of Italy suggests their close relatives are commonly eaten in China
that a broader survey of field guides might and Europe (especially Italy) but are labeled
uncover useful information on the practice of poisonous by many English-language field guides
A. muscaria consumption in Europe that could (e.g., Miller 1972; Bessette and Sundberg 1987;
then be used to focus field research where one is Bessette et al. 1997; Hall et. al 2003). B. satanas
most likely to still be able to find people who can Lenz is eaten in Sicily after a complex cooking
explain how they detoxify the mushroom, what process (Galli 1996) but is described as poison-
they do with it, and how it fits into their culture ous by most field guides, including Italian ones
and cuisine. (e.g., Cetto 1994; Testi 1995; Papetti et al.
The best English-language report on the 1999). B. subvelutipes Peck is eaten in Japan
current use of A. muscaria as food in Asia, or for (Imazeki et al. 1988) and has been safely served
that matter, anywhere, is Phipps’ (2000) treatise for years by restaurants in Massachusetts but is
focused on the town of Sanada in Nagano listed as poisonous in field guides written
Prefecture, Japan. Phipps’ primary goal was to specifically for that area (Bessette et al. 1997;
ascertain through laboratory testing whether the Bessette et al. 2001). Gomphus floccosus
traditional salting method there rendered A. (Schwein.) Singer is often listed as poisonous
muscaria totally safe. It did. After boiling and (e.g., Miller and Miller 2006), but is commonly
storing the mushrooms in salt—the predominant sold in the markets of Mexico and China. Acrid,
treatment of A. muscaria in and around Sanada— red-capped russulas such as Russula emetica are
Phipps found that there was no detectable widely eaten after being cooked or salted but are
muscimol or ibotenic acid. Phipps documented labeled poisonous by field guides in many
two other preparation methods: grilling and languages (e.g., Hagara 1987; States 1990; Kuo
drying. The grilled caps are typically eaten by 2007). Various peppery species of Lactarius such
groups of men along with sake, while the dried as L. torminosus (Schaeff.) Gray are condemned
caps are powdered for use as a flavor-enhancing as poisonous by assorted English-language field
condiment, producing the taste sensation the guides (e.g., Glick 1979; Phillips 1981, 1991;
Japanese call umami (Kawai et al. 2002); accord- McKenny et al. 1987; Miller and Miller 2006)
ing to Lincoff and Mitchel (1977), ibotenic acid but form an important part of northern Euro-
and muscimol are far more powerful than the pean, Russian, and Siberian cuisine, as noted by
234 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 62
Heilmann-Clausen et al. (1998: 30) in their eat (Brill 2002:164–165). We have already men-
monograph on Lactarius: tioned that cassava, the source of tapioca, requires
special treatment to eliminate hydrocyanic acid
Lactarius torminosus is listed among the poisonous (Taylor 1859). Another staple, taro (Colocasia
species in southern Europe, but in Finland the
esculenta [L.] Schott), must be cooked 10–45
edibility of the species is not questioned.
minutes depending on the variety and the part of
Not only individual species but entire genera the plant used in order to avoid experiencing “the
are routinely dismissed by field guides as poison- sensation of a hundred red hot needles” in one’s
ous or inedible or worthless (e.g., Lincoff 1981; throat (Solomon and Solomon 1998:375).
Arora 1986; Jordan and Wheeler 1995), despite As can be seen, this list of examples ranges
containing commercially-valuable edible species from relatively obscure dietary supplements to
with long histories of usage. These genera include widely-used, culturally-salient staples, and the
Astraeus, Calostoma, Cortinarius, Entoloma, Hebe- consequences of improper preparation can be
loma, Helvella, Schizophyllum, Scleroderma, Suil- milder than for A. muscaria, or more severe. Yet
lus, and Tremella, to name just a few. all of these foods are consistently described in
plant field guides (as well as cookbooks) as being
edible, and it is either taken for granted that
Criteria for Edibility Determinations readers know how to prepare them (the packet
of Mushrooms versus Plants of lupine we purchased had no instructions for
Listing A. muscaria as edible rather than its preparation!), or else directions for their
poisonous is a completely unremarkable judgment processing are provided. Their toxicity, while
in a culinary context, or even in the context of acknowledged, is not used to dissuade people
most books on plant identification and uses. In from eating them, but is instead treated as an
many cases, the processing required for traditional inconvenience—something to be removed as
plant foods is far more exacting and labor-intensive one would remove dirt from a garden carrot.
than the parboiling required to make A. muscaria Jacquat and Bertossa (1990), for example, said
edible. For example, most bamboo shoots (e.g., this about the Thai plant phak naam (Lasia
Dendrocalamus, Phyllostachys, and Bambusa spp.) spinosa Thw.): “The young leaves are edible, but
require boiling, in some cases with two changes of must be cooked or fermented to neutralize the
water. Researchers have determined that the hydrocyanic acid.” While mushroom field guides
traditional parboiling method for preparing the are not cookbooks, and cannot be expected to
seaweed hijiki, Hizikia fusiforme (Harvey) Oka- carry the burden of an encyclopedic record of
mura, removes potentially dangerous quantities of mushroom use, it would be easy enough for
arsenic found in the raw product (Hanaoka et al. authors to say something equally terse, useful,
2001; Ichikawa et al. 2006). Lupine or wolfbean and non-inflammatory about A. muscaria, such
(Lupinis albus L.), which the authors recently as, “edible if sliced thinly and parboiled in a large
purchased at a California supermarket, may require pot of salted water for 15 minutes, rinsed, and the
up to four days of soaking and water changes to water thrown out.” They are, after all, the
make it safe for the table (Grande et al. 2004). The authorities that most urban people (including
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (2005) recom- many scientists) consult first when they want to
mends detoxifying fiddlehead ferns (Matteuccia learn about a mushroom.
struthiopteris L.) prior to “sauteeing, frying, or Contemporary English-language cookbook
baking” by rinsing them in several changes of and plant field-guide authors operate in the
water, and then boiling for 15 minutes, or same litigious climate as mushroom field guide
steaming for 12 minutes. Pokeweed (Phytolacca authors, and all write for increasingly nature-
americana L.), the subject of a popular radio song alienated, rather than nature-immersed, audi-
in 1965 and a frequently eaten wild food in the ences. But the formers’ emphasis tends to be on
American South and Midwest, has roots that can a plant’s edibility, not its toxicity, at least where
be fatally poisonous and shoots that are “one of the there is a history of usage, while wild mush-
best tasting vegetables on the planet” (Brill 2002); rooms appear to be held to an entirely different
the shoots, however, need to be boiled three times standard of accountability by English-language
(and the water discarded) to render them safe to field guides.
2008] RUBEL & ARORA: EDIBILITY, BIAS, AND AMANITA MUSCARIA 235
It is tempting to attribute this double standard “edible” in English-language field guides despite
to the entrenched Anglo-American cultural an- being toxic raw (Benjamin 1995:278, 358). In
tipathy toward wild mushrooms called “myco- other words, there is no consistent logical
phobia” by the husband-wife team of Valentina standard by which a mushroom is judged to be
Pavlovna Wasson and R. Gordon Wasson (1957), edible or poisonous. Instead, the initial reputation
and “fungophobia” by British naturalist William that a mushroom—or any potential food—
Delisle Hay (1887:6), who commented, acquires, for whatever reason, tends to hold sway
through weight of precedence. Cultural assess-
[All mushrooms]... are lumped together in one ments of a food’s safety and desirability can
sweeping condemnation. They are looked upon as certainly change (see Yamin-Pasternak 2008, this
vegetable vermin, only made to be destroyed. No
issue), but not easily. Thus peanuts (Arachis
English eye can see their beauties, their office is
unknown, their varieties not regarded. hypogaea L.) and other tree nuts are in no
immediate danger of being labeled poisonous
While mycophobia undoubtedly limits the despite causing more than 100 deaths a year in
range of mushroom species labeled edible, a more the United States alone (Sampson 2002), while
specific Anglo-American antipathy toward boiled field guide authors list A. muscaria as poisonous
mushrooms has probably also had an effect on despite its edibility being solidly established in the
English-language authors’ determinations of sev- 19th century. Furthermore, a particularly litigious
eral species’ fitness for the table, including A. culture (such as that of contemporary America)
muscaria. In Anglo-American cuisine, boiling may function as an additional brake on the
mushrooms is an alien concept that approaches dissemination of unpopular but scientifically
taboo status. We boil green vegetables, tubers, accurate information. The net result, evident in
and eggs, not mushrooms. The last reference to the mushroom edibility literature, is a climate of
boiling mushrooms that we could find in a major fear-based ignorance rather than knowledge-based
English-language cookbook was in Robert May’s caution. As Douglass (1917b:207) so pungently
The Accomplsht Cook (1660). English 18th-cen- put it, “With bigoted abstinence on the one
tury mushroom cookery practice was to stew, hand, with gourmandizing and gluttony on the
grill, bake, and fry mushrooms, but without other and perhaps a bad cook in the kitchen even
parboiling (Glasse 1747; Briggs 1792). This is the most innocent and well-meaning mushroom
the practice that entered the American cookbook will acquire a bad reputation.”
literature in the 19th century, and is the tradition
that North Americans follow to this day (Randolph Field Guides: Science or Culture?
1836; Lincoln 1884; Rorer 1902; Rombauer et al. Food choices and cuisine lie at the heart of
2006). An exception is Kuo (2007), an American cultural, regional, and national identity, whereas the
field guide author, who is not averse to boiling taxonomy of nature, at least in modern urban
the mushroom, Lactarius deceptivus Peck, three societies, does not. This dichotomy may explain
times with water changes (a northern European why food choices tend to be resistant to change,
treatment), but nonetheless dismisses A. muscaria while scientific taxonomy embraces change as proof
as “seriously poisonous.” On the other hand, of modernity. The accuracy of the taxonomic and
most modern field guides in other languages, even nomenclatural information is scrupulously main-
those from countries with little or no aversion to tained in field guides from decade to decade because
boiling mushrooms, clearly label A. muscaria as modernity confers credibility. If the taxonomy and
poisonous, with no mention of it being edible if nomenclature of a field guide are out-of-date, its
parboiled or of its use as food by some people. credibility suffers, and readers may well doubt the
Our survey of field guides in other languages, knowledge of the author. The edibility determina-
though cursory, included several from mycophilic tions are a significant part of almost all mushroom
countries such as Russia, Italy, and Japan (Hongo field guides; indeed, without the edibility informa-
and Izawa 1994; Testi 1995; Papetti et al. 1999; tion their public appeal would be greatly reduced.
Tat’jana 2007). Yet the edibility determinations are free from the
It is also significant that some mushrooms— need to be modern or accurate precisely because
e.g., morels (Morchella spp.) and honey mush- they are culturally derived and reflect what it means
rooms (Armillaria spp.)—are invariably labeled to be an American or English consumer of wild
236 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 62
mushrooms, as opposed to a Chinese or Italian one. while Bosc says that it is eaten in Piémont; Agaricus
As but one example, when the field guide by necator [Lactarius necator (Bull.) Pers], considered as
Thomas (1928) was reissued in a new edition a violent poison by many authors, was eaten by M.
(Thomas 2003), the scientific nomenclature was Letellier without the least problem, and Buxbaum
says that the Russians make a great use of it.
updated, but the edibility information was not.
L’Agaricus acris [Lactarius piperatus (L.) Pers.], is
The disparity between field guides’ treatment also described as poisonous by a great number of
of mushroom morphology versus edibility can specialists, and eaten in many places, according to M.
also be seen in the language. For example, Letellier.
poisonous is an intimidating word: attached to a
potential foodstuff, it tends to discourage con- Little has changed since 1839, as mushroom
sumption. For the past 250 years, the primary field guides continue to disregard ethnographic
meaning of “poison” has been a small amount of and scientific evidence of edibility in favor of an
something that causes immense harm, even death intellectually closed system for assessing mush-
(Oxford English Dictionary 2008), yet mush- room edibility based on personal bias, the
room field guides routinely apply the label culinary and cultural practices of the author’s
“poisonous” to a wide range of species including home country, and the information presented in
those that kill, those that merely upset one’s preceding field guides.
stomach, and those that intoxicate. The imprecise Furthermore, the field guide’s literary form
language of mushroom edibility determinations itself deceives. All of the information about each
(edible, poisonous) contrasts sharply with the highly mushroom appears to derive from one set of
precise terminology applied to the morphological objective facts led by the scholarly taxonomic
features of mushrooms; for example, the surface binomial for each species. But while the Linnaean
ornamentation of a mushroom’s stalk can be taxonomic system is concerned with mushroom
described as squamulose, scabrous, floccose, punc- morphology and phylogeny, the edibility deter-
tate, reticulate, or glandular-dotted. The difference mination and information are there to advise
in language further suggests that the high quality of cooks, not taxonomists. Thus, two entirely differ-
analytical thought applied to questions of identifi- ent classification systems with different goals,
cation and morphology is not applied in the same each resting upon a different body of knowledge
measure to a mushroom’s edibility, and is instead and arrived at using different methods, are
superseded by personal and cultural bias. deceptively intermingled; the taxonomic and
There is nothing inherently wrong with teach- descriptive information predominates (typically by
ing edibility in terms of cultural practices as long a ratio of more than 5:1), and the edibility
as the bias is declared. However, modern field information derives much of its gravitas from
guides tend not to explicitly declare their bias as being embedded in the former. Sitting under the
Curtis (1777–1798) did when he said of Agaricus taxonomic umbrella, the edibility information is
fimetarius L., “It is not eaten with us.” Instead, shaded, as it were, from the glare of objective
field guides tend to declare a mushroom species as scrutiny. In summary, mushroom field guide
“poisonous” or “not edible” as if it were an authors teach the science of taxonomy. They could
objective truth (see, for example: Lincoff 1981; teach the science of edibility, but they don’t. They
Bon 1987; Phillips 1991; Jordan and Wheeler teach a cultural lesson, and always have.
1995; Bessette et al. 1997).
The problem of cultural bias in the evaluation Field Guides and the Future
of mushroom edibility was recognized in the 19th Field guide bias has been an impediment to
century when field guides were still a new genre. sound scholarship, as we have shown for Michelot
The Frenchman, Dr. Pouchet (1839), noted and Melendez-Howell (2003). It may have
many instances in which the absolutist language discouraged ethnographers from seeking informa-
of mushroom edibility asserted as fact the inedi- tion on the consumption of mushrooms they
bility of a mushroom that was either published as assumed could not be eaten, and it most certainly
edible by a different “expert,” or was known to be has limited the number of mushroom tastes,
eaten someplace else: shapes, and textures available to cooks. Therefore,
According to Bulliard, the Boletus cyanescens we support Samuel Thayer’s (2006:12) insistence
[Gyroporus cyanescens (Bull.) Quél] is poisonous, that field guide authors provide citations for every
2008] RUBEL & ARORA: EDIBILITY, BIAS, AND AMANITA MUSCARIA 237
fact of edibility or toxicity not derived from human-mushroom relationships. They will sup-
personal experience. In his words, plant parents and village elders as the most
significant and obvious sources for information
When the works of authors who abide by [this on mushroom identification, ecology, and edibil-
principle] come to supplant those of sloppy scholar- ity; indeed, in some countries they already have.
ship, the study of wild food plants will be taken But greater influence entails heightened responsi-
seriously again, and the oldest and most beautiful bility and a more pressing need to be accurate.
pastime in history will rise from the ashes.
For, as we have shown for Amanita muscaria, field
guides not only reflect and reinforce cultural
In the last century there has been a dramatic
consensus, they forge it.
urbanization of the landscape, widespread de-
struction of mushroom habitat, and a radical
transformation of the relationship between people Acknowledgments
and forests. Both authors have shared the The authors wish to thank Denis Benjamin,
company of traditional mushroom collectors on Michael Beug, Eric Danell, Ivan Day, Dan
all the major continents, and, except in the most Moerman, Glenn Shepard, Jr., and Andrew Weil
isolated villages, these people tend to collect many for their assistance and helpful suggestions.
fewer species than their parents, and their parents
collect fewer than the grandparents (see Guissou
et al. 2008, this issue). As with so many practices
related to forests, knowledge is being rapidly lost. Literature Cited
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242 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 62
pick wild mushrooms for dinner, the more logical elles, porcini. An urban-based mushroom menu is
question would be: Why not eat it? thus emerging. Yet many mushroom hunters com-
It also bears mentioning that amateur English plain that these same few mushroom species they
and North American mushroom hunters typically seek are becoming increasingly difficult to find
do not collect a wide range of wild mushroom because of competition (e.g., Boom 2005). A.
species. Instead they tend to mimic the limited muscaria is an enticing and plentiful alternative. It
offerings of gourmet restaurants: morels, chanter- is thus worthwhile knowing how to prepare it safely.