“Our regular shopping lists consistently contain particular items each week. Those stable components of our weekly grocery haul are predictable, but they sometimes break from tradition with a spontaneous addition of a new ingredient or product. Hypothetically, should extraterrestrials land on Earth tomorrow seeking information about our dietary habits, we’d be well equipped to provide a comprehensive answer. In fact, as they jotted down all our favourite food habits, we’d even voluntarily enlighten them about what we absolutely despise.
In general, humans tend to stick with routines, particularly to our usual culinary habits. For me, my culinary obsession lies with mushrooms. They’re a staple in my cooking process. When I’m sautéing vegetables in accordance with a recipe, I instinctively add a slew of mushrooms without a second thought.
Such is my love for mushrooms that I find them delightful in almost any context – atop a toasted bread slice, as a standalone dish, or as a supplementary ingredient—though they’ve yet to find a place in my dessert recipes, but perhaps, the future may hold such a possibility.
Mushrooms belong to the vibrant fungal family, making them the intimidating ‘mafia’ of the plant kingdom. A casual forage for edible delights in the forests could inadvertently lead to life-threatening mushroom incidents. The mushroom landscape is rife with risks, if you unknowingly engage with the wrong kind.
Fungi have been on Earth far longer than humans, or even dinosaurs, and thus, have a more intuitive understanding of how things work. They have indeed been instrumental in shaping the world as we know it.
Recent studies have revealed that trees have a way of communicating amongst themselves. They exchange nutrients, alert each other about invading species, and even collude to eliminate nuisance neighbours. Essentially, trees appear to be engaging in regular social networking activities.”
In an admirable act of altruism, facing their final moments, they may choose to release their ultimate reserves deep beneath the surface to support their comrades. Their method? Fungi. Specifically, a symbiotic fungal system, coined with a self-satisfied grin, the Wood Wide Web.
However, fungi don’t assist in this venture out of pure good-heartedness or charity. They have an ulterior motive. Yes, they do make it possible for these messages to be transmitted, even throwing in some of their own beneficial extras. But all along, they’re boldly and openly accumulating sugars that the trees gladly discard.
A victory for all parties involved.
Now, any creature that has navigated its surroundings to a point where its existence consists of nestling alongside a tree root, delighting in its kind’s version of Maltesers, warrants our admiration.
Not to mention those who’ve unwittingly ended up in the emergency room due to their foraging misadventures.
After all, what have cauliflowers contributed to the continuity of life on earth? Would a run-of-the-mill carrot engage with a living entity several times, if not hundreds or thousands of times larger than itself in a comparable way? Has a cabbage ever decided enough was enough and obliterated a group of forest-floor enthusiasts?
So, the next time you pile some mushrooms on a chopping board and are set to brandish a knife, pause for a moment.
Focus on the present task, do not lose your alertness, and avoid making commitments prematurely.
They have outsmarted us. They have outmaneuvered us. It’s universally acknowledged that they will outlive us.
And in a hypothetical situation where those space travellers decided to overstay their welcome, it’s certain who would be first in line. To hash out a mutually satisfactory understanding, perhaps indulging in some side trading.
And where would we be? On the outside.
Awaiting. Purely awaiting.