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  • TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30 2004 11:00 PM

Worst Thanksgiving Dinner Ever

Submitted by jake_lex

Edited by Christopher

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.

A 70-year-old woman died Monday and her husband and two friends were hospitalized after they ate poisonous "death cap" wild mushrooms collected in the Oakland hills, authorities said.

The adult victims fell ill after ingesting the toxic Amanita phalloides mushrooms on Thanksgiving Day, said Sherri Willis, spokeswoman for the Alameda County public health department.

Yu-Chin Lai died at 2:35 p.m. Monday at Highland Hospital in Oakland. An autopsy is scheduled for today at the Alameda County coroner's office.

Lai's husband, Chin Chiang, 76, was released from a hospital over the weekend, said his daughter, a San Rafael woman who declined to give her name. Chiang lives in the Oakland hills near Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve.

Two women in their late 40s or early 50s who were visiting the couple during the holiday remained hospitalized: One was in critical condition, and the other was improving, according to Willis and a family friend.

The family friend said the women, who knew the couple from Taiwan, picked the mushrooms Thanksgiving morning during a hike near Merritt College. The four people ate the mushrooms at lunch and dinner that day, the friend said, though Chiang ate only a small amount.

By nighttime, the four began vomiting, and they saw doctors during the day Friday, who gave them medicine that didn't help, the friend said.


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.

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Comments
delusion

delusion

Santa Barbara, CA
March 2004

NOV 30, 2004 11:02 PM

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

Ella_1

Ella_1

HOPEFUL

Australia

NOV 30, 2004 11:03 PM

_Julie_ said:
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... confused

stockula

stockula

Anchorage, AK
May 2003

NOV 30, 2004 11:46 PM

Holy crap, what a way to go.

lostarchitect

lostarchitect

Brooklyn, NY
January 2004

NOV 30, 2004 11:49 PM

stockula said:
Holy crap, what a way to go.



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

delusion

delusion

Santa Barbara, CA
March 2004

NOV 30, 2004 11:58 PM

lostarchitect said:

stockula said:
Holy crap, what a way to go.



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


People in Taiwan it would appear.

Eli

Eli

SUICIDEGIRL

I'm lost

DEC 01, 2004 12:00 AM

i would like to give thanks, that i pick shrooms whom of which i dont know their origin and feed them to guests.
May god have mercy on our souls.

googused

googused

Portland, OR
OLD SKOOL

DEC 01, 2004 12:05 AM

Just nature's way of thinning the herd.

turin

turin

Denver, CO
October 2003

DEC 01, 2004 12:13 AM

lostarchitect said:

stockula said:
Holy crap, what a way to go.



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



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.

Choalith

Choalith

Foristell, MO
November 2004

DEC 01, 2004 12:19 AM

Turin said:

lostarchitect said:

stockula said:
Holy crap, what a way to go.



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



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.



Choalith

Choalith

Foristell, MO
November 2004

DEC 01, 2004 12:22 AM

Choalith said:

Turin said:

lostarchitect said:

stockula said:
Holy crap, what a way to go.



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



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.



We do it here in Missouri as well. Morel mushrooms are damn good when you can find them. But they look like a sponge, not like a normal mushroom you find in markets. If it doesnt look like a sponge, or isn't growing out of a cow pie, dont eat it. And if it's growing out of a cow pie don't serve it to guests, sell that stuff.





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

MrStitches

MrStitches

Brooklyn, NY
November 2003

DEC 01, 2004 12:25 AM

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.

Aaron

Aaron

Shakopee, MN
July 2004

DEC 01, 2004 12:31 AM

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

NinaZero

NinaZero

Venice, CA
September 2004

DEC 01, 2004 01:43 AM

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.

PogMoThoin

PogMoThoin

Jamaica, NY
January 2004

DEC 01, 2004 05:00 AM

I think we have a Darwin Award winner!

Lego_

Lego_

United Kingdom
June 2003

DEC 01, 2004 06:16 AM

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.

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