Hunting for mushrooms
During one of these expeditions, we had the good fortune of meeting Marc Tremblay, an amateur mycologist. A solitary, meditative wanderer, he walks through the La Tuque forest, looking for mushrooms. Calm, pensive, silent, Marc Tremblay who, with his long beard and imposing physique, looks like a poetic lumberman guided us along different paths so that we may discover those marvels of nature which we usually ignore when hiking.
Shy, visibly uncomfortable in front of the camera, the photographer and the reporter hounding him with questions, Marc Tremblay finds solace in the world of mushrooms, which he knows so well. We can't understand how he does it, but Marc spots mushrooms where we see only twigs. With a sharp eye, alert, Tremblay lets his habits and instincts guide him.
«The world of mushrooms forces us to slow down», says Tremblay. The film crew, which by now, is used to putting together videos at lightning speed, is suddenly thrown into a slower universe; in some ways, hunting for mushrooms gives us the impression that we are communing with nature's rhythm, on the forest's time: no mountain bikes here, nor motorcycles, no climbing either, just a quiet walk through the forest, like the ones taken by our ancestors, for whom the woods were a source of food. For them, the forest represented survival, a way of life. One who hunts for mushrooms not only nourishes himself with what he picks, but also with the very spirit of the forest.
«Quebecers don't have the mushroom habit, explains Marc Tremblay. And yet, every hiker or camper should be interested in them. They're everywhere!»
Marc Tremblay, who was born in Baie Saint-Paul, in the Charlevoix region, has lived near La Tuque for the past eleven years. But it's in France that he first got acquainted with mycology, the study of mushrooms. He lived near Avignon, in the centre of France, for ten years. «In Quebec, most of the people who are interested in mushrooms are foreigners, he says. That might be explained by the fact that Native people didn't know much about mushrooms either, unless they decided not to pass their information along...»
One finds a whole, marvelous universe, hidden under branches, a slightly mystical world which reveals itself to the onlooker. Chanterelles and other eatable mushrooms that abound in the fall make our mouths water just by hearing our guide pronounce their names.
«Most mushrooms are eatable, but taste awful, he explains. They're bitter and peppery. However, there are many that are delicious and very easy to find, like ceps. There are fifteen or twenty types of ceps, and they're all eatable. As far as flavor goes, with time and experience, you develop a taste for them, and come to appreciate all the different aromas and flavors of mushrooms.»
Marc Tremblay estimates that it is essential to acquire a good book on the subject; then bring it along when you go walking in the forest, so that you'll know which mushrooms are eatable, which ones can be dangerous, etc. He has one book that he always brings with him, «Les champignons du Québec et de l'Est du Canada», (The Mushrooms of Quebec and Eastern Canada) written by Denis Lebrun and published by Nuit blanche. He highly recommends it.
Even though they're everywhere,Tremblay says that it's important that the public should learn how to properly pick mushrooms, so that they may reproduce. You must never rip a mushroom out of the ground, otherwise you'll sever its roots. Instead, bring along a pocket knife and delicately cut the mushroom at its base.
But that's not all, mushrooms can also be made into works of art! To do so, Tremblay gathers stump mushrooms those big mushrooms which grow on dead tree stumps , not to eat them, but to draw on them. Once you've picked one, get a twig and use it to carve a drawing into the part of the mushroom that, when it dries, will always be marked.
We resume our hike, eyes glued to the ground and, one by one, we start finding mushrooms, learning to observe them. Then, Marc Tremblay gives us one last bit of advice on how to find the elusive mushrooms: «You know, mushrooms are just like us, they like paths and open spaces.»
