
Mushrooms: coming soon to a burger near you - okket
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03855-5
======
simonebrunozzi
I've been living in San Francisco for almost six years now, and only recently
discovered that people go "mushroom harvesting" (or mushrooming? How do you
say it?), something that it's super popular where I come from (Umbria, Italy -
"umbra" means shadow in Latin, as you can guess it's a forest area).

More than eating mushrooms, I think we should all spend some time to harvest
mushrooms ourselves, assuming we know what we are doing!

~~~
scruple
There are a number of things you can forage for in the United States, but
edible mushroom hunting is generally pretty difficult because of the
identification component as well as the time investment. I pick Bolete
Mushrooms when I am out, sometimes, depending on where I am. Those are
generally easy to pick, but there are poisonous look-a-likes you need to be
aware of depending on where you are. I've also had luck with Chanterelles.
It's hard, where I live (Southern California), because it is very dry in the
mountains here, and even in the Sierra Nevadas. When I was in Oregon a few
years ago, we stopped on our way home and picked 5 or 6 lbs. of Warabi from
just off of the road at higher elevations.

I think the reason it's not more common is also that you tend to need to
always go a little bit deeper in to the mountains or forest than you expected
to find what you're looking for, which can turn off the more risk-averse among
us.

~~~
Turing_Machine
Morels are essentially foolproof. There are things called "false morels", but
they really don't look that much alike (certainly not to anyone who's ever
seen the two in real life, or even seen good photographs).

------
KozmoNau7
Mushrooms are tasty, nutritious, very simple to grow, and they grow fast. The
claims made in the article about the supposed fussiness of mushrooms does not
fit with my experience.

We should all eat more mushrooms, not necessarily as a meat substitute, just
in general. They can bring their own fantastic richness and flavor to so many
dishes, if you venture beyond the boring white button mushrooms. At least go
for portobellos or something, they're so much more interesting.

~~~
maxerickson
Mushrooms aren't all that nutritious. They don't have many vitamins and don't
have many calories.

They do have nice flavor and a good mix of calories though.

~~~
coldtea
> _Mushrooms aren 't all that nutritious. They don't have many vitamins and
> don't have many calories_

The first part is not exactly right, and the second part is a pro.

[https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278858.php](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278858.php)

~~~
maxerickson
They really aren't high in vitamins and minerals. They have moderate levels of
a couple of them.

And not having calories might be a good thing, but it doesn't make a food
"nutritious".

~~~
coldtea
> _They really aren 't high in vitamins and minerals. They have moderate
> levels of a couple of them_

That's true for most plants too. It's not like anyone advices eating only or
mostly mushrooms, so that getting 100% of your vitamins from them becomes
essential.

Plus, nutritional value is relative. Mushrooms are more nutritious than many
of the kind of foods they can replace.

------
spodek
Since we're mostly geeks here, I'll indulge in sharing that the term "plant-
based" leaves out mushrooms, yeast, and other fungi. They're a whole other
kingdom.

> "Still, mushroom cultivation is not a green panacea."

For one thing, they don't photosynthesize.

~~~
Turing_Machine
While the relationship isn't very close, fungi are actually more closely
related to animals than they are to plants.

------
mythrwy
FTA: "research has shown that substituting one-quarter of the beef in meals
with mushrooms decreases caloric intake by about one-third"

So what am I missing here? Substituting 1/4 of a burger with air shouldn't
reduce calories by 1/3.

(maybe they are talking about the entire sandwich, in which case meat had a
relatively lesser quantity of calories anyway?)

~~~
exprN
Perhaps people don't finish a mushroom-burger? :-)

------
tyingq
My son regularly cooks up a meatless dish of squash, mushrooms, zucchini, and
enhancers like worcestershire that is crazy good.

------
jostmey
So Nature, the most prestigious peer reviewed journal in science, might now be
running paid articles for Sonic

------
bad-joke
I don't mean to detract from the scientific discussion, but would like to note
that this is a wonderful example of the "submarine piece" as described by Paul
Graham:

[http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html)

~~~
KozmoNau7
Astute observation, and the cyclical nature of news reporting makes it even
more common.

------
mangix
The most unhealthy part of a burger is the bun. This does nothing to help
that.

~~~
KozmoNau7
No, that would still be the red meat and saturated fat (cancer risk increase
and calories).

Carbs have gotten an undeservedly bad rep, due to bro science. But there is
still no actual proof of these assertions, only speculation.

~~~
Shikadi
Saturated fat got a bad rap because of butter. More recently studies have
brought it into question how bad it is, and as it turns out, replacing
saturated fats with carbs increases your risk of heart disease. Unsaturated
fats are better, but saturated isn't necessarily bad for you. It doesn't help
that there are hundreds of different types of saturated fat either. Not sure
why you think carbs being bad is bro science, simple carbs are almost as bad
as eating sugar. Eating carbs (preferably complex) is probably fine with a
balanced diet including fats proteins and fiber and all, but most people don't
do that. It's worth noting that general Mills basically makes the food pyramid
(new and old) and it doesn't agree with modern science

Edit: Decided to grab a quick source online that seems pretty unbiased since
this is can be a pretty heated and opinionated topic. Other more in depth
sources exist, feel free to dig in [https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-
healthy/the-truth-abo...](https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-
truth-about-fats-bad-and-good)

~~~
KozmoNau7
Carbs have been demonized, just like fats used to be, but both are wrong.

Fats are calorie-dense, which is their primary danger (ignoring trans-fats
here).

Simple carbs give you plenty of calories too, and basically nothing else.

People are quick to demonize all carbs, but it's only really the simple ones
that are dangerous.

Whole carbs are generally fine in moderation, like everything else.

A lot of people are looking for foods they can binge on, with no guilty
conscience, but no such food exists. It's not black/white, good/bad.

~~~
alexkavon
> "A lot of people are looking for foods they can binge on, with no guilty
> conscience, but no such food exists."

Vegetables. Raw.

~~~
kbutler
I was thinking that, too, but remember that feeding babies excess carrots
actually changes skin color from the beta carotene, and then there are issues
with gas and bloating from cruciferous vegetables.

------
portofcall
Adulterating food with cheap alternatives is a way to disproportionately screw
over poor people. Everyone else will just add beef to their “buy organic
100%...” list of products and pay a premium. If you want to help poeple, help
them, educate them, don’t patronize them. If you want to help the environment
there are economic (hold companies financially responsible for externalities)
and scientific ways (additives such as seaweee to cow feed to drastically
reduce methane emissions).

It’s a nasty and unfair thing to assume that when someone gets a burger,
they’re “overdoing it” every time. Plenty of people have an occasional burger
and just want beef, not filler. For people living in food deserts, and people
poorly educated or just poor, how about giving their kids healthy and edible
school food? How about heavily subsidizing healthier foods for people on food
assistance, and going out of our way to make those options readily available?
How about bringing back Home Ec?

~~~
testvox
Why not both? Not everyone wants to pay a premium for a 100% beef burger when
they could be eating a cheaper, healthier alternative. Having more options is
better not worse.

~~~
KozmoNau7
I would certainly buy the 10% cheaper, healthier and less environmentally
harmful burger, as long as it tastes as good as the all beef burger. It
doesn't have to taste the same, just similarly good.

------
golergka
Coming? I think that most of chain burger places around (above McDonald's
level) have some sort of burger with mushrooms, I didn't even think it was
some kind of novelty.

