The Mushroom Hunters: A Hidden World of Food, Money, and (Mostly Legal) Adventure

An exhilarating read from start to finish! Like the best adventure, travel, nature or food writing, this book combines just the right blend of ingredients for a satisfying multi-course feast: excitement, wild characters, appreciation of nature, innovative 21st century cuisine, but most of all, entry into the chthonic underbrush world of that most magical of earthy delights, the mushroom, and the people who pick, buy, sell and prepare this gift from the forest floor. Entertaining and informative, the vivid writing had me riding right alongside the author as he explored the commercial subculture of the ‘shroom. I didn’t want the book to end!

Really fascinating book about a subculture I knew little about. Also changes my view of what I thought was the pristine Northwest. Apparently there are thousands of mushroom hunters trampling the woods -- makes it sound more congested than Central Park lol. The writing is pretty good but I did feel like the timelines sometimes got a little convoluted. Also, the one chapter I kept waiting for that never appeared was one on poisonous mushrooms. Some poisonous mushrooms were mentioned here or there but nothing really informative. While rare, poisonings do occur and there were several serious episodes this year in CA. Would have liked more info from this author. Something I really liked about the book was the fact that the author was a real gourmand. I loved some of his meal descriptions. As someone who normally sticks to the supermarket varieties (and loves them) I'm looking forward to getting a little more creative in my cooking and restaurant dish ordering now that I feel a little more educated. He had me drooling over descriptions of a butter saute of mushrooms over pasta or a good steak.. yum. So, to sum up, I would say a great read if you like the woods, like learning about some of the unique ways people on the fringe make a living, or enjoy food. With so much focus on how farmed beef, poultry, fish, etc., make their way to our table it was very interesting to learn something about the paths taken by foraged wild edible food.

This is an exceptionally well written book, whether or not you are a mushroom forager. What was so impressive to me was seeing how Langdon Cook joined a number of commercial harvesters in the field. His Yukon adventure is quite amazing.As a recreational picker, it was very interesting to read the author’s take on the interaction between commercial and recreational pickers: Namely that they rarely cross paths.Great read!

This is one of the best books I have read in some time. Langdon Cook has deftly detailed the fascinating yet purposefully cryptic world of commercial mushroom picking, without betraying those who shared their hard-earned insights to this necessarily secretive, elusive, an even unlawful world. The reader will enjoy this entertaining documentary on the mushroom gathering trade that focuses on the characters involved, spanning the commercial pickers, the buyers, and the restaurateurs. While the setting is the Pacific northwest, this story should appeal to those who forage in the woods anywhere.

I'm about half way through. First 40% was really entertaining, but seems like he's just repeating himself more and more as he goes along and the protagonists which were entertaining and endearing at the biggening start losing their charm and start getting pretty annoying. I think he spent too much time with them and it shows in his writing.

As someone who loves wild mushrooms and has done some recreational foraging in the Pacific Northwest, I found it fascinating to learn about this nuanced underground industry that involves so much hard work by such a diverse set of characters. Langdon Cook is a wonderful storyteller who makes you feel as though you're right there with him throughout every twist and turn of the plot. I found the book to be as informative as it was engaging -- from the ecology of mushrooms, to the logistics of their journey from the forest floor to the restaurant table, to the amazingly dedicated people who make it happen despite long odds and often miserable conditions. While I may never encounter any of these commercial mushroom pickers or buyers in action, I will surely think of them any time I order a restaurant dish containing wild mushrooms, truffles or other foraged foods. Good action!

This is an entertaining story about some white guys who have helped put wild food on the tables of top restaurants and their interactions with the majority of mostly immigrant mushroom pickers.Cook explains the difficulty in getting inside this close to the ground community, but explains his choice to see the mushroom hunters through an atypical example as a necessary one due to the semi legal nature of the business.The story told, that of an exceptional mushroom hunter/buyer named Faber gives us much information about the ways mushrooms get to our tables, from their semi legal picking by foragers, to their use in restaurants.I now have a better idea how to cook with and value mushrooms, but the story is really carried by its individual protagonist, Faber, and his challenging, hard working life, rather than the lives of the majority of mushroom pickers without his access to the top of the food chain.This focus may have been what leads to an abrupt end focusing on a closing of part of Faber's life, rather than a drawing together of the various elements that effect mushroom hunters generally.I enjoyed the book and its information about life in the wild, mushrooms, and some of those who pick them. Just remember it's more of a year in the life of a mushroom picker, rather than the story of the workers in a fascinating, under table, cottage industry.Finally, an observation which is not really a criticism. The Mushroom Hunters never mentions the deaths that come from picking the wrong mushroom, or how the pros avoid mistakes. In a book supporting and encouraging foraging I would have an explanation if not a warning about how to distinguish the delectable from the dangerous.

This text should count as a historical document. It tells of a way of life which most of us will never see or understand.Even though he is writing more than ten years after the time I was in B.C. I lived on the Wet Coast for a few years and I have met people just like he is describing. It is a very interesting book and a rare glimpse of the life of people who travel on the mushroom trail.I also liked how he lays out the economics of the trade and how it works.

I never realized mushroom hunting was such an esoteric subject, at least as practiced by those in the trade on the west coast of the U.S. Learned a lot about this particular "tribe" of gatherers; about the environment of wild mushrooms; and the art of collecting, marketing and cooking. Book is worth reading if you have an interest in mushrooms, unusual people, and ecology.

Very clean like a brand newThank you