For thousands of years, people have been fascinated by mushrooms. They have been beguiled by their beauty and haunted by their potential to do harm. They have treasured them for their medicinal and trance-inducing properties and delighted in their succulent taste always, they have marvelled at their seemingly miraculous appearance. And they have been to incredible lengths to seek out the choicest varieties or to learn to cultivate the few varieties that will allow it. Mushrooms are more than just a food, so this is more than just a cookery book.

Written by two men who grow pale with anticipation every time autumn draws near, mushroom seeks to communicated the very essence of their passion. Everything is here, from an insight into the extraordinary role of fungi in history and folklore to a vivid transmission of the thrill of the mushroom hunt itself. But above all, mushrooms are to be eaten, and at the heart of the book are its seventy superb recipes. Some feature gamiliar, varieties, others introduce species which are less well knwn, but all are imbued with the spirit of the mushrooms themselves.

In a world where so much of our food production is bland and mechanised, mushrooms remain for the most part tantalisingly beyond human control. As such, they are one of our last links with our ancestors. Read this book and connect with the wild in you.

 

Johnny Acton is an entrepreneurial writer and journalist whose career has lurched between such diverse poles as minicab driving and writing obituaries for The Times. He is also the originator of the idea behind SOUP works, the sublime London-based restaurant chain whose liquid and other offerings have revolutionised the urban lunch. Johnny first became fascinated by mushrooms when he saw what happened to Cornelius in Babar the King. Since then, he has foraged for Boleti in Greenland and Giant Puffballs in Kent. He is currently writing a book about balloons.

Nick Sandler is the co-founder and Executive Chef of SOUP works, and feeds thousands of luck devotees each and every day. SOUP, his previous book with Johnny Acton, has inspired and entertained thousands more.

Nick sees his love of fungi as a direct reaction to his mother forbidding him to pick wild mushrooms as a child. His disobedience has taken him as far as the Himalayas, in a quest for the world's largest Morel. He has harvested Oyster Mushrooms from a park bench in France, and reckons he can identify a species at 70mph.