THE MAGIC OF MUSHROOMS

If you add mushrooms to your stir-fry, you’re just toeing the edge of the fungi forest. Follow us down this path of both culinary and magical discovery, beginning with an iconic moment in women’s sports.

- JESSIE R. SHAFER

In August 1993, the Chinese women’s team dominated the long-distance running event at the world track and field championships in Germany, obliterating three world records and sweeping the podium in the 3,000 meters. Of course, the anti-doping powers-that-be immediately demanded urine samples, but they all came back negative for banned substances. What was their winning secret? According to the Chinese team coach Ma Junren, his athletes regularly enjoyed an elixir of caterpillar fungus and soft-shell turtle soup.

Once the world stopped gagging, they became curious — turtle soup aside, what exactly is caterpillar fungus? Before we take that deep dive into the intricacies of Chinese medicine, let’s rewind a little.

Fungi Facts

Mushrooms are fungi, which by their very nature function to decompose matter. And while we might colloquially recognize mushrooms as a vegetable, fungi actually stand in a kingdom all their own. “There’s more DNA similarity between mushrooms and mammals than between mushrooms and plant life,” says Sandra Carter, Ph.D., founder of Om Mushroom Superfood. “Mushrooms exhale carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen, they have a sexual reproduction cycle and they sort of ‘read the room’ as you’re ingesting them.” In this way, mushrooms are a top adaptogen, a substance that can help the body “adapt to” and handle stressors.

While there are zillions of species of mushrooms, they are colloquially divided into four main types: culinary, medicinal, psychedelic and poisonous.

Culinary Mushrooms