Fungus! Every country child, at least in my generation, were taught not, repeat NOT, to snack while roaming in the woods. I never did and as a consequence never had my stomach pumped. Unlike others I’ve know.

Fast forward to yesterday roaming along Kingsway in Vancouver with my host Michele. An area packed with East Asian shops and restaurants. Shops packed with dried medicinal herbs and piles of fungus. We lingered in a doorway and I was tempted. We went in. The image below is of dried Reishi but neither of us were tempted! Brewing instructions talk of a bitter taste. No surprise.

Fungus are one thing people are quite another. We can at least learn to have compassion and not recoil when a sight or sound or smell has us turning away.