We are in the season of mushrooms and fungi, and that makes, in some moments, you can ask yourself what is the relationship between mushrooms and humans. Have we eaten mushrooms for a long time? What happened before with poisonous or toxic ones? Do we only use them for food?
If you want to know a little more about the history between mushrooms and humans, then we are going to talk to you about it.
Since when is there a relationship between mushrooms and humans?
The first thing you have to know is that the relationship between mushrooms and humans has existed for a very long time, we could speak of time immemorial, of our prehistoric ancestors. If you remember correctly, at that time humans grouped into clans or groups and, within these, there were people who had different roles, some hunters and other gatherers.
It is these seconds that interest us since they were the ones in charge of providing food that was found and collected for consumption. Therefore, it is assumed that mushrooms and mushrooms would be a food that would not be overlooked, especially since at that time they were not to be "gourmets".
Now, as you know, there are poisonous or toxic mushrooms, what about them? Unfortunately, it is possible that, before realizing which ones they could and could not eat, some people would succumb to them. It was knowledge that they would acquire with the technique of "trial and error", that is, they would test until they saw what happened and then they would "analyze" the mushrooms that they could collect and leave, destroy or use for other things, those that could not be eaten.
In fact, this is not something that is assumed without more, there are cave paintings, in the Sahara desert, where figures of mushrooms are seen, and these paintings date from the years 7000 and 5000 BC.
Not only that, but In 1991, the discovery of Ötzi, a man frozen in Tyrol, from 5300 BC with a bag made it clear that since that time they used the mushrooms. Why? Well, because inside its bag, frozen, there were two mushrooms: the Piptoporus betulinus (birch fungus) and the Fomes fomento (tinderbox). In addition, these two were not specifically mushrooms to eat, since the first has medicinal properties and the second is used to light fire.
Mushrooms in religious rituals
Another of the uses that can be given to mushrooms, and that surely in ancient times they do, we are talking about at least 3000 years before Christ, is that of religious rituals since many of the mushrooms, especially poisonous or those that were not suitable for food consumption, they were used as drugs or intoxicants, to connect with the spiritual world.
It is known that they were used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Central America, but also in northern European tribes.
The relationship between mushrooms and humans in ancient times
Coming a little closer to the present, there is no doubt that there are references to the use of mushrooms in Egypt, Rome, Persia, Greece or Mesopotamia.
For example, in Egypt mushrooms were said to be the "food of the gods" and he who ate them became immortal. Therefore, the emperors, for fear of this happening, forbade men to eat or touch mushrooms.
Something similar happened in Rome, where they were also considered "magical", but not to grant immortality, but divine force. A few years later it was said that they were also aphrodisiacs.
At that time, they were considered food for the upper classes, and even their trade was regulated. In fact, there are cases in which mushrooms were the "culprits" of many deaths, such as that of Emperor Claudius.
In Greece they went one step further. And it is known that the poet Euripides was the first to realize, and describe, the poisonings that were produced by mushrooms. This was what started the classification of mushrooms while, a little later, the doctor and botanist Dioscorides made a separation between "harmful" and "beneficial" mushrooms.
Mushrooms in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, the consumption of mushrooms was not well regarded. In fact, they were considered "creatures of the Devil" because many times they were associated with witches or fantastic beings but from the most negative perspective of them. Therefore, many people were afraid to consume them.
It also did not help the fact that fungi appeared in foods that people consumed and that caused them to have health problems such as the appearance of gangrenes, hallucinations, mental disorders ...
In another part of the world, like the Orient, they were used much more often. In fact, there were even mushroom and mushroom crops. But it was not enough for Europe to stop mistrusting them, and they continued to demonize their use. For example, it is known that in the thirteenth century, St. Albert the Great referred to them as "exhalations of the earth, fragile and perishable" not being considered "plants."
The relationship between mushrooms and humans went beyond gastronomy
Although mushrooms can be viewed as food, and have been used as such, they actually had many more uses over the years. On the one hand, and as we have seen, they were used in religious rituals. Certainly the tests, visions, etc. that they carried out in those times had among their ingredients these mushrooms and fungi for the psychoactive properties that caused abnormal states (that they suffered hallucinations, that they did not feel pain, being in limbo ...).
However, it is not the only use it has had over the thousands of years. It is known to have been used to kill, using poisonous or toxic mushrooms against enemies.
And on the contrary. To cure. There are mushrooms and fungi that have medicinal properties and that, without a doubt, they should have learned over the years. A clear example is the mushroom that the mummy Ötzi was carrying in her bag when she froze.
Thus, we can say that mushrooms and humans have a very old relationship in which the latter have been enjoying the benefits of mushrooms (food, medical, etc.). But they have also suffered the most negative part of these, that is, poisonings, toxicity problems or even death.
Did you know that the relationship between mushrooms and humans was so old?