ABSTRACT
Mushroom harvesting is also strongly interwoven with sustaining cultural and social traditions. Arora (1999) provides colourful examples of traditions from around the world mixing in the mushroom harvesting camps of western North America. By contrast, Trappe et al (2008a; 2008b) compare ancient cultural traditions of desert truffle harvesting among indigenous peoples of the Australian Outback and the African Kalahari. Yamin-Pasternak (2008) describes the very different cultural traditions regard ing mushrooms between otherwise similar cultures on either side of the Bering Straight. Winkler (2008) investigates traditions of harvesting the medicinal fungus, yartsa gunbu (Cordyceps sinensis (Berk.) Sacc.) in the grasslands of Tibet. The literature describing cultural aspects of mushroom harvesting is voluminous, but these recent examples illustrate the incredible richness of such customs around the world and the importance of mushroom harvesting in communicating intergenerational cultural practices and identity.
