The mushroom, while thought of as pallid and low-born, has by contrast a rather colourful history, fraught with murder and accidental death, hunger and gluttony, sickness and health, religion and war. Mushroom: A Global History examines the complex role of mushrooms in human history and food culture, explaining why some peoples revere mushrooms and others shun them, as did Diderot, who wrote that: . . . they are not really good but to be sent back to the dung heap where they are born.
