Limited Edition Zine: Hotdish

Buy local:
The midwest has a great and growing collection of mushroom farms. Farmers
markets, co-ops, and CSAs are great places to source fresh mushrooms. Buying local
supports small-scale agriculture, while also offering more diverse, fresher varieties
that taste better and have more flavor than a generic white button mushroom that
has traveled thousands of miles to get to your plate.
E X C L U S I V E
Grow your own:
Start with a kit or even just a log, some spore, and a little time on YouTube.
You can create your own mushroom source and participate in the democratization
of agriculture. The localization of mushroom growers helps us to shift away from
large-scale factory farming towards more ethical, sustainable food production.
Foraging:
If you want more fungi fun, take to the woods! Foraging is a great way to get to know
the land you’re on and find deeper connections with the non-human elements of our
community. One day, I hope to be able to walk through the trails near my home and
know what part of the season it is just by the types of plants blooming or mushrooms
fruiting. Slowly, I'm learning to listen.
When the lilacs bloom in the early signs of spring, I know the morels are peeking out
of the ground. When the sumac leaves light up in a fiery goodbye to summer, I check
the base of oak trees for maitake. It’s like a treasure hunt, and nothing matches the
joy you’ll feel when you spot a mysterious lion’s mane flowing from a dead beech
tree or a patch of golden chanterelles among the moss.
Knowing how and where to source wild ingredients requires much practice and even
more caution. Never ingest what you find unless you are able to verify it against
multiple resources with 110% certainty. It is a good idea to take a guidebook of the
region with you and then double-check your finds with several online resources
and/or an expert once you return home.
Given their affinity for connection and cohesion, it’s no wonder that cream of
mushroom soup is a staple binder in hotdish recipes. Whether you grow your own,
forage, or buy them locally, mushrooms are an amazing sustainable and local
ingredient that forms deep relationships with the human-built and ecological world
around them.