Mushrooming in the Czech Republic
The Czechs are beer drinkers, ice-hockey players and then there is mushroom picking – the number one national sport. Mushrooming (I don’t know if this word exists but I like it) is a hobby and a phenomenon with a long tradition. It’s an opportunity to race, brag and prove that I’m better than my neighbor.
The second reason comes from the Middle Ages – the fact that wars have crossed our territory several times in the past plays a big role. The armies wiped out all the animals in the woods which caused hunger among the people. They had no choice but to go out into the woods and collect what they could. Mushrooms were called the meat of the poor. Everyone could afford them and the markets were full of them. So the mushroom picking tradition was born.
But I must say that Czechs are really good at picking mushrooms. Most of the people can recognize dozens of different species of mushrooms. But it’s not an easy hobby. Many foreigners do not understand this and look at us like crazy. Not everybody is willing to get up at 6am in the morning, travel tens of kilometers and often return with an empty basket. Then it is necessary to clean the mushrooms, cut them, dry them or consume them immediately. In the mushroom hobby only Slovaks, Ukrainians and Poles are similar to us. In those countries mushroom picking used to make a living and then has become a tradition as in our country.
But mushrooming also has strict rules:
- You have to start in early morning and get to the woods before everybody else
- Mushrooms are collected in a basket and not in a plastic bag (they could go bad)
- We only collect mushrooms we know
- Consume immediately or dry them
And because we are also lovers of food and cooking, we also have hundreds of recipes how to cook mushrooms. The most famous and simplest is Smazenice – mushrooms, caraway seeds, onions and eggs, everything is done in a half an hour. And for more experienced chefs for example breaded mushroom heads, real risotto with mushrooms, beef with mushrooms, Bramboracka – potato soup with mushrooms, baked mushrooms and more and more.
According to statistics, the Czechs take almost 20,000 tons of mushrooms from the forests every year.
We’re proud to be the best mushroom pickers in the world!
