Impression #4. Mushrooms

Walks in the woods here are absolutely fantastic. There are a lot of well-maintained trails, no trash lying around, this wonderful smell, and all the mushrooms to pick…

Wait. Why does nobody pick the mushrooms?

We figured out pretty quickly that you are not allowed to forage for mushrooms in Flanders. But in Wallonia you may take up to one bucket per person, but still we have not yet met any single person mushroom hunting.

It soon became clear that:

Belgians in general don’t know which mushrooms to pick.
Picking mushrooms is considered dangerous by many people in Belgium. At least two people warned us that we may die.
The whole subject of mushroom hunting (including but not limited to: good places, what we have found last weekend, how big was the biggest mushroom we found) is not considered a valid or interesting topic for a conversation. People don’t care what and where you found – sad! :)

In Ukraine I have not met any single person who does not know what to pick. Children watch their parents / grandparents and learn at least basic boletes that are safe.

In supermarkets in Belgium, you also can’t really find any decent mushrooms. There are chestnut mushrooms (in Ukraine they are called “champignons”, which funnily enough just means “mushrooms” in French), pleurotes, best case chanterelles.

Another reason why mushroom hunting is frowned upon is ecology. Even if you are allowed one bucketful does not mean you should. The guidance is often quite unclear, for example this article advises at the same time that you:

Should not pick mushrooms because it’s very dangerous
Should not pick all mushrooms to allow them to grow back
But you can pick for personal consumption (and don’t forget to wear long pants if you do)

So that’s it – mushroom hunting is not common here in Belgium, not popular, not encouraged, likely is going to phase out completely soon – either for ecology or safety reasons.