Do you know the Mushroom Man who lives in Jamaica Plain?

boing
1

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/29/do-you-know-the-mushroom-man-w.html

…

2 Likes
2

Do you know the muffinmushroom man,
The muffinmushroom man,
The muffinmushroom man?
Do you know the muffinmushroom man
Who lives in Drury LaneJamaica Plain?

12 Likes
3

Yes, I do.

7 Likes
4

Umm, I think you meant to cite the second verse:

Yes I know the [muffin] mushroom man,
The muffin mushroom man,
The muffin mushroom man.
Yes I know the muffin mushroom man
Who lives in Drury Lane Jamaica Plain.

4 Likes
5

I learned of the existence of Jamaica Plain by playing Fallout 4

5 Likes
6

In fact I DO know him, sort of-- I met Benjamin once years ago when a friend of mine was his upstairs neighbor in JP, so I knew of his work and was impressed he could make a living at it. “Delightfully quirky” is an apt description.

5 Likes
7

I do!
If you’ve ever worked in a high-end* kitchen around Boston, you know Ben. Always a pleasure to see him come through the door! Can’t recall if Tyler made the rounds with him before I stopped cooking professionally, though.
*high-end not so much as in price-wise, but cuisine-wise.

5 Likes
8

Ben Maleson used to sell at the Cambridge Farmers’ Market but I haven’t seen him in years. Good to know he’s still around.

I understand that there are other mushroom hunters who don’t have a high opinion of him but then they are competitors in a very competitive business with low margins (as all food businesses tend to be).

3 Likes
9

I live in Jamaica Plain, but the Tyler I know knows nothing about mushrooms.

2 Likes
10

Mushroom hunting is seasonal, and the types that are in demand are uncommon. No wonder other people who hunt are not happy with him; if he makes a living from his harvests, he’s probably cleaning out most of the edible wild mushrooms in any given area.

2 Likes
11

Anyone else getting ‘grow your own mushrooms!’ ads served up with this story? Because the sample image sure looks like psilocybin to this recreational user.

12

“Are you feelin the J-P-NESS”

13

Mushroom people are crazy like that. Out here on the west side (of the USA) we’ve got Paul Stamets who seems to pretty much occupy every point in space all at once.

I used to live in Roslindale, MA, and while working up at N.E. Baptist hospital as a groundskeeper in the late 80s, I’d sometimes have lunch down in JP. There was a Mexican restaurant (rumored to be the first in N.E.) that had really good molé (I was born and bred a Los Angelino, so my tenure “back east” in the day consisted of trying to find any kind of good food).

I never met the mushroom man, however.

3 Likes
14

I know a professional fungal forager in my own fair city, who sells porcini to the Italian / French restaurants. Trouble is, he tends to hit the prime spots before I do, on account of getting up earlier in the morning, which is cheating.

15

I do too…Theres lots down the rabbit hole, I saw how far it really goes, and boy it really goes…

2 Likes
16

This from chambermusicsociety.org

When he wasn’t writing music for prepared piano, John Cage was a passionate and prizewinning mycologist, or mushroom expert.

And from elsewhere…

… early in his career, he made a living gathering mushrooms in the country and selling them to gourmet restaurants in NYC…

2 Likes
17

Same. He should be well stocked in:
Glowing fungus
Brain fungus
Cave fungus

1 Like
18

So was Beatrix Potter

2 Likes
19

Is this job even legal? Ginseng foraging is an issue, so I don’t know why this is different. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fight-against-ginseng-poaching-great-smoky-mountains-180958858/

20

Ginseng is harder and takes longer to propagate properly (note: had a neighbor who spent years making a 10x10 plot of ginseng) than mushrooms, and is more prone to illegal harvesting because it has a near-legendary status as a panacea in China. Not quite like tiger penis or rhino horn, but akin.

Good name, BTW; O’Brien?