COOKBOOK SHELF
IN THE COMPANY OF MUSHROOMS | A B I O L O G I S T ' S T A L E
By Elio Schaechter Harvard University Press 289 pages BY BRUCE LeFAVOUR a large, blinking red light -- DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! -- should be firmly attached to the cover of every copy of "In the Company of Mushrooms." This book could, frankly, kill you. Schaechter, a retired microbiologist, is an extremely knowledgeable amateur mycologist, and in this rambling monograph he celebrates his long association with mushrooms by touching on those areas of their history, collection, culinary uses and biology that particularly captivate him. His book is a casual, idiosyncratic paean. How could such an innocent undertaking harm anyone? Well, one all-too-easy way would be for the reader to confuse this book with a field guide. Schaechter clearly states in the prologue to "In the Company of Mushrooms" that his "book is not a field guide and does not attempt to help you distinguish between edible and poisonous species." But the detailed if incomplete information that follows -- characteristics of some mushrooms, their suitability for the table, lists and photographs of edible and poisonous species and seasons for gathering -- could lead the unwary beginner to use this work as just that, a guide. The author is so enthusiastic about his subject that he can't resist including long passages of advice on how, when and where to gather the various kinds of mushrooms. This can get quite complicated and dangerous, particularly when the members of one genus of mushroom, the amanita, are discussed in this monograph-cum-field guide setting. If you haven't heard of them, amanitas are notoriously poisonous mushrooms, the worst of which go by such common names as "death cap," "fool's mushroom" and "destroying angel." These mushrooms contain amanitin, which, when ingested, lies unnoticed for up to 24 hours -- oops, too late for a stomach pump -- before crippling and eventually shutting down your kidneys and liver. Depending on whom you listen to, if treated properly you have "only" a 5 percent (Schaechter) to as much as a 90 percent (the FDA) chance of dying after eating only a mouthful of the most poisonous amanita. And if you survive, you still might need an emergency liver transplant. There are edible amanitas, and two varieties are reputedly delicious. Some Italian-Americans regularly collect and eat one of these, which they call "coccora," but because just a minor error can be calamitous, some experts state categorically that no amateur should ever attempt to eat any amanita. As the late, highly regarded mycologist -- happily he died a natural death -- Alexander Smith has written, "The dangers of a mistake are out of all proportion to the enjoyment of a new dish." I have been collecting and eating wild mushrooms since the early 1960s, yet I have never eaten an amanita. Neither should you. Schaechter, however, feels that the amateur who has "considerable knowledge and experience" can gain what he calls a "license" that will allow the consumption of edible amanitas. That's acceptable -- but the fact that he does not then sufficiently alert his readers (particularly novices) about the dangers is not. This is where the confusion between field guide and innocent little book of reminiscences becomes very important and potentially tragic. There are unambiguous cautions in the book, but not enough and not in the right places. Serious warnings about the dangers of amanitas are needed, but what we get instead is muddled equivocation. "Edible and poisonous amanitas are not that difficult to tell apart, but there is always an element of chance ..." and "Surely some of the fascination of eating wild mushrooms is that it is like playing with fire." In one list, Schaechter -- dropping into his field-guide mode -- actually specifies, without any accompanying caveats, two edible amanitas as "Other North American Mushrooms Worth Eating." One of these is, of course, the coccora. This past January, 31-year-old Sam Sebastiani Jr., of the California wine-making family, died in Sonoma County nine painful days after eating a destroying angel that had been misidentified as a coccora. Worth eating indeed. Schaechter is far too casual. It's as if he were saying, "Don't worry. Though I'm not really showing you how, with just a bit of study and care you too can prepare and cook your own puffer fish and enjoy fugu at home." "In the Company of Mushrooms" has other flaws, the most egregious being the editing or, more precisely, its lack; the manuscript should have been red-penciled to eliminate many of the precious and distracting anecdotes that litter this book. As a popular science writer, Schaechter isn't in the same class as Feynman, Sacks or Berlinski, although some passages on the history and biology of fungi do sparkle with his passion, his undisguised fascination with all things mushroom. But, unfortunately for the reader, these are lost, buried by pages of irrelevant asides, most of which are so anachronistic that they might have been written by Eustace Tilley: "The garb of the forayers was not as formal as in the past, although I was soon greeted by an elderly gentleman in shirt, tie and jacket ... and sneakers." Mushrooms deserve better, and my advice to the interested reader is to ignore this muddy, potentially dangerous book and start, instead, with Alexander Smith's authoritative and cautious "The Mushroom Hunter's Field Guide." Another book, David Arora's encyclopedic "Mushrooms Demystified," is considered definitive. Further advice? Never eat an amanita.
Bruce LeFavour is a retired chef-restaurateur who, for more than 20 years, served wild mushrooms to his customers without incident. Today he writes about food and travel. P R E V I O U S R E V I E W S "Pie Every Day" reviewed by Marialisa Calta (03/12/97)
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