New York life | Chase the fungus in the bronx

(New York) The meeting is given a Saturday morning in July at the entrance to Van Cortlandt Park which is around the latest station on the metro line 1, in the northwest of the Bronx.

Earlier in the week, heavy rains fell on New York, including on the crests and green valleys of the third park in the city for size. The conditions are therefore ideal for fungi hunting. Hence the thirty amateur mycologists, armed with baskets and magnifying glass, present on site at the so -called time.

Uh… it is really possible to indulge in the picking of mushrooms in New York, where a plethora of skyscrapers grows along asphalt arteries?

“We would expect that there are no mushrooms in this concrete jungle, but the mushrooms thrive here. They love New York! “, Will launch Sigrid Jakob during the promenade, one of the dozens organized, good year, bad year, the New York Mycological Society in 15 parks and 2 cemeteries of the American megalopolis.

Since 2009, the organization has observed more than 1,200 of the 2,239 species of fungi listed in New York by amateur or professional mycologists on the application inaturalist. Some species are fatal; At least ten are hallucinogenic.

“There are more species of mushrooms listed in the city of New York than in the entire state of Colorado,” added Sigrid Jakob, holding a toxic fungus between the fingers-the crimped lepiote-picked in a undergrowth by the borders.

“And they have around 14 million hectares, when we have only a few modest parks. »»

What the former president of the New York Mycological Society will eventually explain is that her adoption city never does things by halves. And the study of fungi is no exception.

From DNA to microscopy

Marketing strategist, Sigrid Jakob is the perfect incarnation of the phenomenon. Ten years ago, the New York of German origin began to take an interest in mushrooms. Then it was gradually “sucked”, according to its own word, in this universe where millions of species have not yet been identified. His specialty: co-speaking mushrooms, that is to say the mushrooms that grow on animal excrement.

She describes the evolution of her passion for mycology: “When you come to a fungus that is not in books, you say to yourself:” Well, okay, but what could it be? ” And you start to do DNA sequencing, to do microscopy. And then you are sucked in by the scientific side of the thing, and once you enter this dimension, you discover a community of very serious people who are interested. It becomes your social life. »»

Its expertise is not limited to coprophilic mushrooms, three different species of which will be collected on horse -off during the day. The words that are most often heard during a walk from the New York Mycological Society are as follows: “will ask Sigrid. »»

Some seek to identify such a species of fungus, others want to determine whether another is edible or toxic.

Sigrid almost always has the answer.

Ethan Crenson, current president of the organization, has his own specialty, developed over the years that have followed a first fruitful mushroom hunt in Vermont, in 2005. These are ascomycètes, a large division of mushrooms which brings together more than 64,000 species, including the morels and delicious truffles, as well as the sometimes toxic yeasts and molds.

Also part of the group a tiny carnivorous fungus spotted during the excursion on a branch of rotten tree by Elan Trybuch, whose own specialty is myxomycets, unicellular organisms of great beauty.

A little gastronomy

Alerted by Elan, Ethan Crenson immediately takes, using a knife, a small wooden plot on which the carnivorous fungus pushes which he will manage to identify with precision a few days later.

” Exciting ! “, He said, examining with his magnifying glass the fungus which feeds by catching its prey-microscopic worms called nematodes-with species of lassos or nets.

“I took three days to identify him,” wrote Ethan Crenson later in an email about the fungus bearing the scientific name ofOrbilia Nemaspora And observed for the very first time in New York.

Obviously, the expressions “hunting mushrooms” or “mushroom picking” do not do justice to the mission of the New York Mycological Society. It has little to do with relaxation or gastronomy.

“We collect mushrooms mainly for identification and education,” says Paul Sadowsky, veteran of the organization, addressing amateur mycologists at the start of the excursion.

But Zhipei Luo is one of those who pick edible mushrooms, still thinking of the dishes that they will accompany.

“I am Chinese,” said this Google engineer. Most of the dishes I prepare are therefore Asian. If I have a good variety of mushrooms, I cook them in a pot with pork and herbs. Delicious. »»

Zhipei discovered the fungi hunting by engaging in hiking during the COVVI-19 pandemic. Since then, he has become a follower.

In the footsteps of John Cage

Eliza Newman-Saul, she became a member of the New York Mycological Society after learning that the famous composer and theorist of avant-garde music John Cage, who died in 1992, had been one of the co-founders in 1962.

During his thin years of lean cows, John Cage even made his end of the month by selling the biggest restaurants in New York, including the Four Seasons, the (edible) mushrooms that he was harvesting. He also gave a mushroom identification course at the New School, where he taught music.

“It is through the art that I became interested in mycology,” explains Eliza Newman-Sul, a visual artist who continued for a certain time the passion of the composer of 4’33 ” In Sweden, where mushroom hunt is almost a national sport.

John Cage would undoubtedly have jubilee by consulting the list of 114 species of fungi observed during the most recent excursion of the group he co -founded in Van Cortlandt Park¹. Four of these species were observed for the first time there and two others for the first time in New York.

Part of the picking was found on a large picnic table near the park stables at the end of the promenade of about four hours.

“It’s ok for a town ride for a summer month,” said Ethan Crenson later. “We would have liked to see more boletes and mushrooms in branchies. It all depends on the time he has, but also on the participants and the rhythm of the walk, “he will add, explaining that the group” jumped some good places “to reach the stables at the scheduled time.

We are tempted to believe that amateur mycologists of Colorado would have preferred hallucinating in such circumstances rather than lists everything.

1. Consult the list of species of fungi observed in van Cortlandt Park by members of the New York Mycological Society (in English)