NEWS: Worst Thanksgiving Dinner Ever

CULTURE: Worst Thanksgiving Dinner Ever

I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for the first time ever this year. I think it turned out OK, but the potatoes were a little lumpy. But at least I didn't serve death's cap mushrooms for dinner like these people did.

While death and/or sickness from mushroom poisoning is rare, the cases that do occur seem to happen most often amongst recent immigrants who gathered mushrooms in their native country, including some varieties that look very similar to the death's cap.



The moral here, to me, is this; if you're going to gather mushrooms, do it in the produce department of your supermarket.

Or pluck them straight from the cow patty, wash & dry them, and don't share them with grandma.

my grandma once collected mushrooms. Turned out to be goldtops... she was trippin for 2 days straight...

Holy crap, what a way to go.

seriously, who actually goes into the hills and harvests mushrooms?

People in Taiwan it would appear.

Just nature's way of thinning the herd.

people in colorado. there's a certain kind around here that's considered a delicacy, but I can't remember what they're called. people gather them in the spring up in the mountain meadows and sell them for ridiculous amounts of money to gourmet restaurants.

[Edited on Dec 01, 2004 12:24AM]

From what I understand, it is a very very bad idea to eat wild mushrooms unless you are practically a micologist. Safe mushrooms can look a lot like poisonous mushrooms.

my dad picks morel mushrooms but they can't really be confused with anything that's harmful...

seriously, who actually goes into the hills and harvests mushrooms?


Mushroom picking is part of the traditional food culture of many countries. Here in Europe it's common in most countries, and people spend weekends hunting wild mushrooms and truffles. But when someone goes mushroom picking in an unfamiliar region, they often pick the wrong ones and die. Oops.

I think we have a Darwin Award winner!

A few years ago there was a big problem with people here in Sweden mistaking a certain poisonous mushroom for a very similar harmless one.

National newspaper Afton Dagbladet took it upon themselves to help the nation by publishing pictures and descriptions of these 2 mushrooms so that people could distinguish between them.

...Sadly, somewhere along the line the 2 images got mixed up.

I have a string of dried morels hanging in my kitchen and a jar of field mushrooms (boletes) dried and in a jar in the cupboard...mmmm...and some other kind in my dresser drawer..
I love mushroom picking, so shaddup!

i've heard it OVER and OVER again.. do not EVER harvest your own mushrooms.... sheesh.

that is really really sad.

Unless you know what youre doing.. and reading one article in some magazine doesnt qualify as 'knowing'. Bring a field guide, do spore prints, do your research- and if theres ANY doubt in your mind.. DONT EAT IT.
Thankfully, morels are pretty unmistakable, as are giant puffballs .

I learned not to fuck with mushrooms after playing Mario. Quite a life lesson.

no one goes to the oakland hills unless they're burying a body. (the trash men won't take 'em anymore)

Also, don't eat any wild foods unless you know what you're doing.

I don't harvest mushrooms (I am allergic), but I know most edible plants in my area. There are lots of easily mistaken plants.. Death camas, for instace, looks almost exactly like edible camas when it's not in bloom.

I have heard of a case where a farm worker was told to weed-whack an overgrown field... But the field was full of poison hemlock... The pollen alone gave him permanent respiratory problems, he nearly died

BUT wild food collecting can be rewarding, and, well, feed you quite well. I imagine mushroom gathering is, too.

[Edited on Dec 01, 2004 by pygmy]

i should show this story to my family to make them thankful that my abominable cooking has only occasionally maimed but never killed anyone.