num_pages: 320
description: In the tradition of Michael Pollans The Omnivores Dilemma Susan Orleans The Orchid Thief and Mark Kurlanskys Coda renowned culinary adventurer goes into the woods with the iconoclasts and outlaws who seek the worlds most coveted ingredient . . . and one of natures last truly wild foods: the uncultivated uncontrollable mushroom.Within the dark corners of Americas forests grow culinary treasures. Chefs pay top dollar to showcase these elusive and beguiling ingredients on their menus. Whether dressing up a filet mignon with smoky morels or shaving luxurious white truffles over pasta the most elegant restaurants across the country now feature an abundance of wild mushrooms. The mushroom hunters by contrast are a rough lot. They live in the wilderness and move with the seasons. Motivated by Gold Rush desires they haul improbable quantities of fungi from the woods for cash. Langdon Cook embeds himself in this shadowy subculture reporting from both rural fringes and big-city eateries with the flair of a novelist uncovering along the way what might be the last gasp of frontier-style capitalism. Meet Doug an ex-logger and crabbernow an itinerant mushroom picker trying to pay his bills and stay out of trouble; and Jeremy a former cook turned wild food entrepreneur crisscrossing the continent to build a business amid cutthroat competition; their friend Matt an up-and-coming chef whose kitchen alchemy is turning heads; and the woman who inspires them all. Rich with the science and lore of edible fungifrom seductive chanterelles to exotic porciniThe Mushroom Hunters is equal parts gonzo travelogue and culinary history lesson a rollicking character-driven tour through a world that is by turns secretive dangerous and tragically American.
language: English
title: The Mushroom Hunters: On the Trail of an Underground America
publisher: Ballantine Books