Mushroom picking in France, a religious experience

"Monsieur Maury, my pharmacist in Le Mesnil-le-Roi [near Paris], is ready to put up his annual window display of mushrooms from the local woods. As at nearly every rural drugstore in France, at least one employee traditionally helps the townspeople sort the toxic species from the comestibles", writes Brian Van der Horst as he is about to go mushroom picking. "It is a beautiful morning in Le Mesnil-le-Roi. On this side of the forest, the fungi grow in a wild profusion of colors. Red cèpes, violet cortinaire, white pom-poms of vessie de loups, bright orange curtains of wood mushroom on tree stumps. Just our luck that cèpes are so good at camouflage. We have to widen our vision, let our minds relax, watch for those caps emerging from the detritus as the sunlight dances in the swirling leaves of a golden autumn. No doubt about it, this is certainly a religious experience for the French."

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