The Mushroom Hour Podcast

Today on Mushroom Hour we are blessed to be joined by Dr. Mazen Rizk, one of the founders of Mushlabs. Dr. Rizk is originally from Lebanon but completed his PhD in Hamburg, Germany. He began developing the concept for his food technology company, Mushlabs, at the Technical University lab but has since expanded and now is gearing up to launch the company’s first product. Mushlabs is a team of 40 people from 18 different countries with the shared goal of building a better food system with the help of fungi and fermentation. Their first product concept is created through an incredible fermentation transformation of mycelium. This creates a food product that is truly novel because unlike other companies using a mold strain of fungus, their chosen mycelium is from a strain of mushroom that produces edible fruiting bodies. The potential for this technology to bring reliable, sustainable food to countries effected by war and climate change is quite motivating on a personal level for Dr. Rizk and I think is a potent example of how mushrooms can help us save the world!   

TOPICS COVERED:    

• Growing Up in Lebanon   
• To Hamburg in Pursuit of Solutions Through Biotechnology   
• Fundamental Change in Food Systems   
• Fungi & Fermentation   
• Effect of Prebiotic Fibers on Human Health   
• Selecting a Strain of Edible Mushroom Mycelium for Making Products   
• Systematic Approach to Selecting Growth Parameters   
• Using Agricultural “Sidestreams” as Inputs for Mycelium Cultivation   
• Creating Circular Food Systems   
• Scaling Mushlabs’ Mycelium Production   
• Partnering with Major Food Producers    
• What is Mushlabs’ Fermentation Process?   
• Critical Importance of Finding a Diverse Team   
• Beyond Burgers – Worldwide Mycelium-based Cultural Foods   

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Mushlabs Website: https://www.mushlabs.com/   
• Mushlabs IG: https://www.instagram.com/mushlabs/   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are blessed to be joined by Shane Norte.  Shane is enrolled in the Morongo Band of Indians - a Billion Dollar Tribe in Southern California. He is the founder and spiritual leader of the Church Of The People For Creator and Mother Earth and a Board Member of Decrimalize Nature National. Shane has also worked extensively helping tribes fight against corporations destroying Native Lands. Currently, Shane's church has one grounds on his lands on the la Jolla Indian Reservation. The church's mission is to help those seeking to better their spiritual knowledge and overall knowledge about being a better Indigenous person and human being here on Earth. I am excited to learn more about his psychedelic ceremonies from an authentic indigenous perspective, and how he performs these ceremonies in natural settings.   

TOPICS COVERED:    

• Navigating Modernity as an Indigenous Person   
• Indigenous vs. Christian Funeral Rites   
• Finding Creator Mother Earth, Entering The Wamkish   
• Founding "Church of People for Creator Mother Earth"   
• Examples of How Church and State Repressed the Indigenous   
• Reclaiming Pride in Indigenous Culture and Spirituality   
• European Influence Destroying Natural Systems   
• Peoples’ Ancestral Connection to Land – Whose DNA is Encoded with how to Live Here ?   
• Refocusing Native Movements Away from the Western European Economic Apparatus   
• Psilocybin Macrodose Therapy   
• Psychedelic Therapy in Synthetic vs Natural Environments   
• Authentic Voices for Sacredness in Psychedelic Ceremony     
• What are Shane’s Ceremonies Like?   
• Breaking Free from Militarism & Political Propaganda   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• COTPFCME Website: https://churchofthepeopleforcreatorandmotherearth.com/   
• Decriminalize Nature: https://www.decriminalizenature.org/

Today on the Mushroom Hour Podcast we are joined by Maria Finn, founder of Flora and Fungi wild foods. Maria Finn is an author, journalist, chef and multi-sensory storyteller. She spent many years pursuing obsessions, like tango dancing and surfing by working on fishing boats in Alaska. Prior to COVID lockdown, she was chef-in-residence for Stochastic Labs, a residency for artists, scientists and tech innovators in Berkeley. During the pandemic she launched Flora and Fungi Wild Food Adventures where she teaches people how to hunt for porcinis, chanterelles, seaweed and other wild foods. She has published widely, including essays, articles, and books, some of which have been optioned for television, inducing visions of grandeur that have not yet come to fruition. She was an ocean faring cat lady living on a houseboat in Sausalito with her two tabby cats and native oyster garden. During COVID lockdown, she adopted a truffle puppy and has since spent many hours is in the woods training her to find these buried gems along with other edible fungi; she has spent subsequent hours searching her dog and self for ticks. She is working on a book about truffles around their world – their role in forest ecosystems and our co-evolution with them!   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Writing, Food and the Ocean Collide   
• Listening to Nature & Understanding Cycles   
• Learning from the Yupik Peoples   
• Magic of Cooking Wild Food Around a Campfire   
• Becoming a Wild Food Educator   
• Discovering the Magic of Truffles   
• Falling in Love with Lagotto Ramagnolo   
• Learning to Tango with Your Truffle Dog    
• Mentors in Mushroom & Truffle Hunting   
• Coevolution of Truffles & Humans   
• Human Bodies as Fractals of our Planet   
• Truffle Renaissance   
• Democratization of Pleasure   
• Developing New Value Systems   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Maria Finn Website: http://www.mariafinn.com/   
• Flora & Fungi Adventures: https://www.floraandfungiadventures.com/   
• Maria Finn IG: https://www.instagram.com/maria_finn1/   
• Yupik peoples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yupik_peoples   
• Mycological Society of Marin: https://www.mycomarin.org/   
• Lagotto Romagnolo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagotto_Romagnolo   
• The Truffle Dog Company: https://truffledogcompany.com/   
• "Scent and the Scenting Dog" (Book): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/862416.Scent_and_the_Scenting_Dog   
• Tuber lyonii (Truffle): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecan_truffle   
• Craterellus cornucopioides (Fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craterellus_cornucopioides

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by illustrious lichen expert Matthew Nelsen PhD. Matthew is a Research Scientist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Matt's research began in botany, ecology and environmental science and has more recently gravitated towards: (i) the evolution of symbiotic associations; and (ii) the evolution of eukaryotic microbes (fungi and algae), and the roles they have played in shaping terrestrial ecosystems and nutrient-cycling over geologic timescales. Both avenues of his research attempt to link diverse fields and organismal groups. He also has conducted work addressing the timing and evolutionary consequences of ant-plant interactions. Matt thank you so much for joining us on the Mushroom Hour!   

TOPICS COVERED:    

• Fungus & Algae Species Forming Lichen Partnerships    
• Host Specificity in Lichen Partnerships    
• Evolutionary History of Lichen    
• Vascular Plants on Land Before Lichen?!    
• Challenges of Working on “Big Time”    
• Process of Lichen Formation, Fungal Phenotypes    
• Lichen Blurring Species Boundaries    
• Cleptobiosis    
• Role in Carbon & Nitrogen Cycles    
• Lichen as an Ecosystem    
• Lichen & Air Quality in an Environment    
• Lichenometry   
• Analysis of Fungal Coal Formation Hypothesis    
• Ant Plant Interactions   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Matthew Nelsen Website: https://mpnelsen.com/   
• Lichen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen   
• Xanthoria parietina (Lichen): https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Xanthoria_parietina   
• Trebouxia (Lichen Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebouxia   
• Toby Spribille (Lichen Expert): https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vPlIL5IAAAAJ&hl=en   
• Betsy Arnold (Endophyte Expert): http://www.arnoldlab.net/   
• Article on Fungal Coal Formation Hypothesis: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1517943113  
• Arthrobotrys (Fungal Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthrobotrys   
• Mycoparasites: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/mycoparasites   

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the honor of being joined by Jacob Alvarez. Jacob is an amateur mycologist focusing on dialing in cultivation methods for Fistulina hepatica, the beefsteak fungus. He started the “Beefsteak culture collection project” last year and has been collecting samples of the mushroom since early 2019.  In May 2020 he made a significant breakthrough and successfully cultivated the first ever photo documented Beefsteak mushroom grow on a hardwood bag in the USA. He is based out Southern New Jersey where he owns & operates his farm Garden State Mushrooms. At the farm, he grows a wide variety of different gourmet mushrooms and continues his research figuring out better beefsteak cultivation methods. Beefsteak mushrooms are an intriguing mushroom that can be eaten raw, resemble meat in appearance and even bleed. The cultivation of the beefsteak mushroom can add some tremendous value to the mushroom market for small mushroom farms and he passionately believes the time to grow this mushroom is now! I’m excited to hear insights as to how to cultivate this mushroom and maybe be inspired to never give up on ideas even when things go very, very wrong.   

TOPICS COVERED:    

• Discovering Wild Mushrooms and Introduction to Fistulina hepatica   
• Fistulina Fundamentals  
• Finding the Best Beefsteak Strain for Commercial Cultivation    
• 2020 Beefsteak Culture Challenge   
• Genetics and Process Over Substrate in Beefsteak Cultivation   
• Process of Collecting Wild Tissue Cultures   
• Extreme Photosensitivity of Beefsteak Mushrooms   
• Growth of Project and R&D Scaling   
• Economic Importance of Beefsteak Mushrooms for Small Farmers   
• Betting the Future of Garden State Mycology on Beefsteak   
• Juggling Research, Business, Fatherhood   
• Advice for Entering the World of Mushroom Farming   
• Creating Jerky, Sushi and More with Beefsteak Mushrooms    
• Open-Source Innovation   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Garden State Mycology Website: https://gardenstatemushrooms.com/   
• Garden State Mycology IG: https://www.instagram.com/gardenstatemushrooms/   
• Jacob Alvarez IG: https://www.instagram.com/hacob_/   
• Fistulina hepatica (AKA Beefsteak Mushroom): https://www.mushroomexpert.com/fistulina_hepatica.html   
• Myco-Operative Twin Cities: https://www.facebook.com/MycoOpTwinCities/    
• Mycopolitan: https://www.mycopolitan.com/   
• Pleurotus eryngii  (AKA King Oyster Mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus_eryngii   
• Lanmaoa pallidorosea (AKA Bullion Bolete): https://boletes.wpamushroomclub.org/product/boletus-pallidoroseus/   

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of speaking with Mark Williams, founder of Galloway Wild Foods. Through his work in the wilds of Scotland, Mark hopes to share his passion for foraging and the delicious and nutritious food that we all can gather for free in the wild. In so doing, Mark’s goal is to restore vital connection between humans and nature, increasing our intimacy with the natural world in ways that are beneficial our own physical and mental wellbeing, and the health of the ecosystems of which we are part. He teaches about the full range and depth of wild food and foraging including plants, fungi, seaweed, and shellfish. These practices take Mark across a diverse range of habitats – from high mountains, through forests, hedgerows, urban settings and down to the coast. He covers all areas of foraging including traditional and modern food uses, health and nutrition, traditional and modern medicinal uses, survival and bushcraft, wild booze and lots more.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Childhood Spent in Nature   
• Discovering Provenance, Wild Food & Foraging Working as a Chef   
• Scotland as a Mushroom Habitat   
• Foraging Traditions in Scotland   
• Diversity & Abundance in Coastal Foraging   
• Nutritional & Medicinal Value of Seaweeds   
• Cyber-foraging & Impressions on Social Media   
• Edible Conifers   
• Botanical Cocktails   
• Medicinal Mushrooms & Plants   
• Evolution of Foraging Mentorship   
• The Association of Foragers   
• Wild Food Accreditation Systems   
• Adding Mushrooms to School Curriculums   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Galloway Wild Foods Website: https://gallowaywildfoods.com/   
• Mark Williams Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markwildfood/   
• Association of Foragers: https://foragers-association.org/   
• "A Passion for Mushrooms" (Book): https://antoniocarlucciofoundation.org/book/a-passion-for-mushrooms/   
• Sea Orache: https://gallowaywildfoods.com/orache-identification-edibility-distribution/   
• Palmaria palmata (Dulse Seaweed): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmaria_palmata   
• Nori Seaweed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nori   
• Grifola frondosa (Hen of the Woods): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grifola_frondosa   
• Hymenochaete corrugata (Hazel Glue): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenochaete_corrugata   
• Hypocreopsis rhododendri (Hazel Gloves): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocreopsis_rhododendri   

Today on the Mushroom Hour Podcast we are joined by David Breslauer, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Bolt Threads. Bolt Threads is a company on a mission to create way better materials for a way better world, developing sustainable solutions for the apparel and beauty industries. With nature as inspiration, Bolt Threads invents and scales credible materials that put us on a path towards a more sustainable future. Bolt Threads is based in Emeryville, Calif. and was a Fast Company Most Innovative company in 2019 and 2018. David leads technology innovation at Bolt, creating and incubating biomaterials for improved consumer products. His obsession with biomaterials began with graduate research on silk during his Bioengineering PhD at UC Berkeley and UCSF. David has an orange belt in Krav Maga and is a great admirer of stencil graffiti. I’m excited to hear from him about all the future of sustainable materials and how Mylo™ – their mycelium material line, will play a leading role.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Microfluidics & Bio-inspiration   
• Biomaterials Past, Present and Future   
• Decision to Create Sustainable Consumer Goods   
• Synchronistic Connections Researching Spider Silk   
• Founding Bolt Threads   
• In Search of Leather, Turning to Mycelium   
• Learning to Work with Mycelium as a Material   
• How to Transform Mycelium into Leather-like Material
• Properties of Mycelium as a Leather Material   
• Scaling Production of Mycelium Leather   
• Reaction from Product Developers and Fashion Houses   
• Future Uses of Mycelium and other Biomaterials   
• Advice for Working in the Field of Biomaterials   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Bolt Threads Website: https://boltthreads.com/   
• Mylo Unleather Website: https://www.mylo-unleather.com/   
• Bolt Threads IG: https://www.instagram.com/boltthreads/   
• Mylo Unleather IG: https://www.instagram.com/mylo_unleather/   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by the dynamic duo Michelle Russell and Camille Myhre Degabrielle author of the new cookbook “Just Mushrooms”. Ten years ago, Michelle changed everything about her life, she lost 80lbs by adopting a plant-based diet, ridded herself of the need for 12 prescription medications, cured her depression, and accepted a new job in Tokyo. From Tokyo, she moved to Bavaria and spent years traveling the European capitals and backroads. During this period of exploration, Michelle went to culinary school to learn more about the many ways that plants can heal us and became convinced that part of her next evolution would be to help make it easier to be healthy. Camille majored in Industrial Design at Savannah College of Art and Design. During this time, she had the opportunity to study abroad in Hong Kong. Having first-hand experience with manufacturing practices and seeing the impact of what product design could do to our environment, she refocused her efforts to more sustainable design. Through studying Sustainability & Biomimicry, she allowed those principles to reshape her thinking and eventually adopted a plant-based diet for ecological and ethical reasons. Their cookbook will make you a firm believer, like I am, that fungi are the future of food and they can help us heal our bodies, our minds, and the planet itself.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Michelle and Camille Connecting Through Mushrooms  
• In Search of a Mushroom Cookbook  
• Influenced by Mycophilic Cultures   
• Growing Mushrooms at Home   
• Mushroom Cultivation as the Future of Sustainable Agriculture   
• Techniques in Mushroom Cooking & Preparation   
• Health Benefits of Consuming Mushrooms   
• Possible to Eat Too Many Mushrooms?   
• Themes Throughout “Just Mushrooms” Cookbook   
• How the Cookbook is Structured   
• Some Favorite Mushroom Recipes from the Cookbook   
• Evolution Through Writing the Cookbook   
• Integration with the Mycophile Community   
• Future Plans Beyond the Cookbook   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Just Mushrooms Website: https://www.just-mushrooms.com/
• Just Mushrooms IG: https://www.instagram.com/just_mushrooms_/?hl=en   
• Just Mushrooms Cookbook: https://www.just-mushrooms.com/purchase   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are blessed by the presence of Jason Scott, founder of Feral Fungi.  Jason Scott is a Mycologist, Ethnobotanist and Spagyricist who has studied traditional Hermetic Alchemy, from history and philosophy to practice, for the past 9 years. He has a background in Ethnobotany and Plant Medicine that started on the Big Island of Hawaii and has carried back with him into his home: the Pacific North West. Born and raised in Oregon, Jason has an intrinsic interest in the Fungal Queendom and all of its aspects: from cultivation and mycoremediation, to historical and cultural relationships. Jason has studied various different healing modalities including Ayurveda in Nepal and Western Herbalism all over Oregon and Washington. As Owner of Feral Fungi, he produces Mushroom Spagyric Tinctures, and he curates AlcheMycology.com where he shares some of his teachings and writings alongside other fascinating discoveries in the world of Fungi. Jason is also a co-organizer of the Radical Mycology Convergence and the Fungi Film Fest. He is on an ever-deepening journey of education to understand the practical applications of his interests, and the golden threads that connect them.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Growing up Adrift in a Disconnected Culture  
• Radical Mycology Convergence  
• Heremetic Sciences – Alchemy, Astrology, Quabbalah  
• Philosophies & Origins of Alchemy  
• Embracing Practical Alchemy in Laboratory Work  
• Doctrines of Signatures, Correspondences & Emanations  
• Alche-mycology & Transmutation  
• Astrology & Planetary Correspondences  
• Astro-mycology - Mushrooms & Their Planets  
• Understanding Through Powers of Observation   
• Embracing the Qualitative  
• Dangers of Reductionism with Herbal Medicines  
• Spagyric Processing – Metaphor of Sulphur, Salt, Mercury  
• Frontiers of Mushroom Spagyrics  

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Feral Fungi Website: https://feralfungi.com/  
• Feral Fungi IG: https://www.instagram.com/feralfungi/  
• Alchemycology Website: http://www.alchemycology.com/  
• Radical Mycology: https://www.radicalmycology.com/  
• Robert Bartlett: https://www.spagyricus.com/about-robert-bartlett/  
• Paracelsus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus  
• Plant Path Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-plant-path/id1243181579   
• Manfred M Junius: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Manfred-M-Junius/410051223  

Today on the Mushroom Hour Podcast we are honored to be joined by Terri Smith, the CEO of Wake Jamaica. Terri’s passions lie in making wellness possible for underserved people and communities. As a young mother recently arrived in Canada, she completed her studies in Literature and Social-Cultural Anthropology and developed her expertise in Labour Market re-entry for injured workers and economically-disadvantaged adults. Terri returned to Jamaica to care for an elderly relative, and during that time she and her husband took up a mushroom farm using a unique proprietary lemongrass-bamboo substrate. Terri believes in a triple bottom line approach to growing any of her projects: every community entered must be better when we leave - financially, socially and environmentally. I’m so excited to here about her work in helping rural & underserved communities to find empowerment through mushroom cultivation and all the ways that her company Wake is contributing to the democratization of wellness.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Childhood in Rural Jamaica  
• Inspired to Train Women how to Change Their World with Mushrooms  
• Seeing a Need to Heal People and Environments in Rural Jamaica   
• Economic Policies Impacting Health of Jamaica’s People and Environment  
• Becoming Jamaica’s Mushroom Queen  
• Adapting Cultivation Techniques to Meet the Needs of Communities  
• Improving Understandings of Agriculture through Mushroom Cultivation  
• The Power Multiplier of Empowering Women in Poor & Rural Communities  
• Connecting with Wake Network  
• Landscape of Psilocybin Mushroom Industry in Jamaica  
• History of Psilocybin Mushrooms in Jamaica  
• How Wake’s Programs Integrate and Support Local Communities in Jamaica  
• Plant and Mushroom Medicines Nothing New for Indigenous Cultures  
• Future of Scaling Wake Network Programs in Jamaica  

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Wake Network: https://wake.net/  
• Chido Govera (Inspiration): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chido_Govera  
• Pleurotus ostreatus (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus_ostreatus  
• Psilocybe cubensis (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybe_cubensis