Sep 11th, 2026 Friday Sunny
My husband and I participated in a mushroom foraging walk this week, led by a naturalist who has been doing it for 20+ years. As expected, aside from identifying the few fungi that we encountered during the hike, he also shared many health benefits of this fascinating yet mysterious species, which was a bit like preaching to the choir – I highly doubt anybody not already fond of mushrooms would even register for the event.
The talk went a little long, and my mind started to wander. An interestingly contrasting scene emerged in my head.
During graduate school years, I became friends with a woman originally from Poland. I helped her with statistics, and to express her gratitude, she would ask me over for dinner every now and then. Before arriving at her apartment, we went grocery shopping together since she insisted on using fresh ingredients.
We passed by the shelf where criminis and portobellos were. I was excited, while she looked uninterested.
“Why do people bother to eat mushrooms?” asked she, “They have no nutrients. Not healthy.”
Now in front of me stood a man who was singing praise to the same food that my friend years ago deemed unworthy of being consumed. Certainly one of them has to be wrong, right?
It turns out that they are both correct, to an extent, but not completely.
It is rare to have such black-and-white distinction in nature. So if something is labeled in an absolute way, you can be sure that it is a, likely arbitrary, simplification. Although there may not necessarily be ill intent behind it (there can be) , this dichotomy could distort and confuse our understanding of nutrition.
Just like this bowl of hot and sour vermicelli – is it healthy?
My mom would immediately say no, without thinking through why. In fact, when I occasionally prepare this treat for myself, it is probably equally good as a healthy lunch option as grilled sandwiches: I add lettuce to supplement the missing Vitamins, crack a sunny-side-up separately to boost the protein content, and do not drink the broth. It is still a bit salty, as I find myself gulping a lot of herbal tea afterwards, which increases my water intake. Depending on my mood, I might throw in some deli ham/turkey or soy skin as garnish as well. Not so bad?
Coming back to the controversial mushrooms. They contain numerous nourishing properties, some even with research evidence, including anti-cancer effects; at the same time, they are extremely low-calorie – while they are filling due to the high fiber content, no one in need of high energy (e.g. athletes, scientists) can sustain themselves only on a mushroom diet.
The verdict cannot be made out of context, as one man’s meat is another man’s poison. If eating healthy is truly important to you, you might want to invest a bit more time to scrutinize the information presented, instead of accepting them at face value.