Well, our journey comes to an end. No more shall you have a teacher as wise as myself to walk you through all things fungal; you must go out and explore! But one last word before I leave you to your own devices. We must discuss the future of mushrooms and mycological endeavors, some that have the potential to change the world.
We’ve learned about how psilocybin can help those living with OCD, PTSD and addictions such as alcoholism, how Reishi mushrooms can help with cancer, and how mycelium is becoming more popular in growing natural packaging. But this hardly scratches the surface of what the future has in store for mushrooms. From meat substitutions, to recycling, to futuristic food, mushrooms seem to be the answer for anything.
One of my favorite book series I’ve ever read is called The Expanse. Set in the far future, it follows a crew in their journey through politics and alien worlds. When people die in the futuristic worlds of this book, their bodies are recycled in large mushroom pits, then the same mushrooms are used to create the foods that colonies live off of. While this does seem a bit soylent green in nature, the creators weren’t far off from one of the best traits of mushrooms; their ability to biodegrade food and make it edible, even if it wasn’t beforehand. In fact, human bodies would be on the easy side for mushrooms to decompose and utilize; their most important use may come in their ability to biodegrade plastics. A study by Yale university students found that the Oyster mushroom, a choice edible mushroom, is able to break down single use plastics and turn them into an edible mushroom free from pollutants. Two members of Pestalotiopsis can biodegrade plastics in anaerobic, or oxygen poor, environments. These anaerobic environments are most commonly found in landfills, where trash is compressed without much room for air flow. By introducing massive amounts of fungi into our garbage heaps, they could be eradicated and turned into edible fungi, or other plants with symbiotic relationships to said mushrooms could be planted and the entire landfill would become a verdant greenland once more.
A mushroom colony growing in an anaerobic environment
What more and more companies are realizing about mushrooms is that every part of them is usable for commercial endeavors. Mycelium could be used for creating carbon neutral packaging, or it could be used as a meat substitute, as acclaimed chef Srijith Gopinathan can attest. He uses mycelium products at two of his Michelin starred restaurants, without any complaints. The best part about using mushrooms as a meat substitute is that little alteration is needed to change their flavor, compared to products like the Impossible burger. While the Impossible meat company must use heavily genetically modified yeast to obtain their meat like flavors, mushroom products only need to imitate the mouth feel associated with meat. And the best part? Mushrooms don’t emit CO2, don’t require deforestation, nor do they emit any greenhouse gasses. They create healthy soil, connect plants and trees, and maintain the basis for a healthy ecosystem.
Meat substitute made of mycelium