by Peter Roos | Photos courtesy Fantastic Fungi
We recently watched a movie called “Fantastic Fungi” for the third time. The first time was at its public debut in a high school auditorium in Telluride, Colorado, on August 15, 2019. It was the first night of the 38th annual Mushroom Festival that is held there annually on the middle weekend of August. The auditorium was full of appreciative mycologists and lay enthusiasts. The second time was a sparsely attended showing at the spectacular Tampa Theater. If we had had some notice it was coming, we’d have told you to go see it. The third was a recent viewing on our television at home. It is currently available on the most popular streaming sites, and we suggest everyone watch it.
The director of this spectacular documentary, Louie Schwartzberg, is an award-winning time-lapse photographer and cinematographer who was inspired at Telluride’s 25th Mushroom Festival to produce the definitive movie about the role of mushrooms in the world. He spent 13 years doing so. The film reflects a belief espoused by many mycologists at the festival, that “Fungi Could Save Our Planet,” if we just give them a chance.
Mushrooms, perhaps the most easily recognizable forms of fungi, have been hailed as the latest super foods, while some experts have said fungi may even have the potential to save the world from humanity’s worst excesses. Such discoveries are yet another reminder of how our planet’s biodiversity is essential for the health and well-being of everything on it.
Fungi are often described as being the “fifth kingdom of life on earth” – they are neither plant nor animal, microbe nor protozoa. Their spores can survive extreme temperatures, radiation, and even outer space: in 1988, Russian cosmonauts noticed that something was growing on the outside of the Mir space station’s titanium quartz window – and eating through it. It was a fungus.
Fungi live everywhere: in water, on trees, in the soil, in the air – and on and in our bodies. Scientists have begun to appreciate how important the tiny, microscopic organisms – including fungi – that live on our skin and in our gut are to our health. Studies of the so-called microbiome have mostly concentrated on bacteria, but experts now think the fungal equivalent – the mycobiome – may play an important role in our immune system’s health.
Mushrooms taste great but are digestible only if cooked. Cooking releases essential nutrients we need for a healthy life, including protein, vitamins B, C and D, and selenium (which helps prevent cancer). They are a good source of iron, copper, riboflavin, niacin and contain dietary fiber. A portobello mushroom can contain more potassium than a banana.
Both edible and inedible fungi have been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicine, used Fomes fomentarius, a woody species found on trees, to cauterize wounds; Calvatia gigantea, or giant puffball, was used by Native Americans to stem bleeding.
Penicillium, a group of molds (a type of fungi), formed the basis of penicillin, a drug that has saved countless lives since it was developed in the late 1920s. A tree fungus has been hailed as a possible defense against biochemical weapons, including smallpox and anthrax. Known as Laricifomes officinalis when found on larch trees and Fomitopsis officinalis when on Douglas fir, spruce and hemlock, it is resistant to influenza viruses. The prime job of most fungi is to sustain the natural world. Along with bacteria, fungi are important as decomposers in the soil food web. They convert organic matter that is hard to digest into forms other organisms can use. Their strands – or hyphae – physically bind soil particles together, which helps water enter the soil and increases the earth’s ability to retain liquid.
Fungi could even help to save our world from pollution. Certain species, such as the oyster mushroom, produce enzymes that digest the hydrocarbons in petroleum. Some can absorb heavy metals like mercury and even digest polyurethane plastics. Scientists are also experimenting to see if certain types of fungi might be able to absorb radiation after nuclear disasters.
In 2017, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Kunming Institute of Botany found a fungus that could potentially help us to address the problem of non-biodegradable plastics. The fungus is able to break down waste plastics in a matter of weeks that would otherwise persist in the environment for years. Aspergillus tubingensis is typically found in soil, but the study found that it can also thrive on the surface of plastics. It secretes enzymes which break down the bonds between individual molecules and then use its mycelia to break them apart.
The movie also touches on the likely role of psilocybin mushrooms in human development and current psychological applications of “tripping” on mushrooms. They have found serious depression can be relieved with a single session. We suggest the film for everyone. Growing mushrooms is low tech and very green. We should all be eating more mushrooms and less red meat. Make it a new year’s resolution.
If you are shopping locally for edible mushrooms, Spiro’s market in South Pasadena usually has at least five varieties. The MD Market at Park Blvd. and 49th St., a supermarket-sized oriental grocery store, has a substantial produce department with some hard-to-find items.
For more information, visit www.FantasticFungi.com or just ask Alexa to turn on the TV and play Fantastic Fungi.
