Svanberg Ingvar, Løvaas Mai, Ståhlberg Sabira
Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, Box 514, 751 20, Uppsala, Sweden.
NTNU, Postboks 8905, N-7491, Trondheim, Norway.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2025 May 27;21(1):37. doi: 10.1186/s13002-025-00789-x.
Peasants in preindustrial Norway and Sweden refused to touch edible macrofungi even during times of scarcity or famines, although this free food resource was abundantly available and authorities encouraged gathering mushrooms to enrich the diet since the eighteenth century. Urbanization and gradual changes of attitudes have turned mushroom gathering in forests and meadows into an important leisure activity. In recent decades, city foragers have discovered the funnel chanterelle, Craterellus tubaeformis (Fr.) Quél. This delicious edible mushroom has quickly become one of the most popular species for hobby gatherers. Our article follows the journey of the funnel chanterelle from an ignored food resource to a popular seasonal delicacy served also in luxury restaurants, discussing how, when and why attitudes and habits have changed.
For the historical background, this qualitative ethnomycological study uses a rich corpus of newspapers in the Swedish and Norwegian newspaper databases at the Swedish and Norwegian National Libraries. Data on contemporary mushroom hunter knowledge of C. tubaeformis have been obtained from responses to a questionnaire from 2017 with a hundred respondents. The study has also benefited from the authors' participatory observations, own experiences as mushroom gatherers, and conversations with mushroom pickers in Norway and Sweden. Cookery books, mushroom identification guides and other printed works have also been utilized.
Urbanization caused a change in the relationship with nature: urban foragers are a fairly new phenomenon in Sweden and Norway but they have significant impact on food habits. City foragers discovered and have focused extensively on the funnel chanterelle ever since the end of the 1970s. It is now one of the most popular edible mushrooms in Sweden and Norway, widely publicized in newspapers, discussed in evening classes for novice mushroom gatherers, and presented in books and TV and internet food shows. Media and in recent decades also internet can be identified as the main information sources for urban gatherers. Attitudes have changed among others due to transformations in lifestyle, internationalization, and the fashion of consuming more local foods, as well as a strong need for leisure and perceiving nature as the best place for it, and gathering as a meaningful activity in nature.
The funnel chanterelle is easy to identify, harvest and prepare. It is regarded as wild food with a wide range of uses, harvested for both personal consumption and commercial purposes, and now well-integrated in the Nordic cuisine. The urban population perceives mushrooms and various other wild foods as a normal part of the diet and modern food, in contrast to their peasant ancestors who thought fungi were animal food only. Contemporary human-fungi relations in Scandinavia have multiple meanings, not only as a food source but also as a recreational activity, maintaining emotional ties to the forests and nature among a highly urbanized population.
在工业化前的挪威和瑞典，农民即使在匮乏或饥荒时期也拒绝食用可食用的大型真菌，尽管这种免费的食物资源丰富，且自18世纪以来当局就鼓励采集蘑菇以丰富饮食。城市化和态度的逐渐转变使在森林和草地采集蘑菇成为一项重要的休闲活动。近几十年来，城市觅食者发现了喇叭鸡油菌，即Craterellus tubaeformis (Fr.) Quél.。这种美味的可食用蘑菇迅速成为业余采集者最喜爱的品种之一。我们的文章追溯了喇叭鸡油菌从一种被忽视的食物资源到一种受欢迎的季节性美食（甚至在豪华餐厅也有供应）的历程，探讨了态度和习惯是如何、何时以及为何发生变化的。
对于历史背景，这项定性民族真菌学研究使用了瑞典和挪威国家图书馆瑞典和挪威报纸数据库中的大量报纸。关于当代蘑菇采集者对喇叭鸡油菌的了解的数据来自对2017年一份问卷的回复，共有100名受访者。该研究还受益于作者的参与观察、作为蘑菇采集者的自身经历以及与挪威和瑞典蘑菇采摘者的交谈。烹饪书籍、蘑菇鉴定指南和其他印刷作品也被加以利用。
城市化导致了与自然关系的变化：城市觅食者在瑞典和挪威是一个相当新的现象，但他们对饮食习惯有重大影响。自20世纪70年代末以来，城市觅食者发现并广泛关注喇叭鸡油菌。它现在是瑞典和挪威最受欢迎的可食用蘑菇之一，在报纸上广泛宣传，在面向新手蘑菇采集者的夜校中讨论，并在书籍、电视和网络美食节目中展示。媒体以及近几十年来的互联网可被视为城市采集者的主要信息来源。态度的转变尤其归因于生活方式的转变、国际化、消费更多本地食物的时尚，以及对休闲的强烈需求和将自然视为休闲的最佳场所，还有将采集视为在自然中一项有意义的活动。
喇叭鸡油菌易于识别、采摘和烹制。它被视为具有广泛用途的野生食物，既用于个人消费也用于商业目的，现在已很好地融入北欧美食。城市人口将蘑菇和各种其他野生食物视为饮食和现代食物的正常组成部分，这与他们认为真菌只是动物食物的农民祖先形成对比。斯堪的纳维亚半岛当代的人类与真菌关系具有多重意义，不仅作为食物来源，还作为一种休闲活动，在高度城市化的人群中维系着与森林和自然的情感纽带。
