On the German love of foraging for mushrooms

The German public flock to the woods every autumn in search of hidden treasure.

Dear Reader,

Last weekend, when walking down an unassuming backstreet in an east German town, I came across a man bent down behind a tarpaulin-covered table.

When I came closer I realized he was cleaning some chanterelle.

“Oh, where did you collect those?” I asked somewhat too bluntly, hoping for a hot tip on a nearby mushroom spot.

“Poland officially,” he said, shiftily. After a moment’s pause, he added “unofficially, Groß Köris*.”

Steinpilz. Photo: jggrz/ Pixabay

He pulled back the tarpaulin to reveal a whole stack of the delicacy that “a friend” had gathered in the forest.

If I wanted to buy a punnet I’d have to put it inside two bags just in case some snooping passers-by looked too closely, he told me.

While I cannot confirm whether an exchange of cash ensued, the incident made clear: after decades of fear that radioactive fallout from Chernobyl had made even edible wild mushrooms toxic, the seductive and illusive Waldpilz is back.

Searching for wild mushrooms is now such a popular past-t…