Why Should You Give A Shiitake
About Mushrooms?
Image by Presetbase
We may only think of mushrooms as a tasty treat or a gateway to a psychedelic trip, but mushrooms have played a larger role in human history than once thought. Human interactions with mushrooms caused an expansion in capacities of human minds, allowing us to evolve to our current state. The addition of a certain mushroom in the diets of ancient humans, “led to better eyesight (an advantage for hunters), sex, language, and ritual activity (religion among them), when eaten”. The addition of the mushroom to early diets changed the actions of ancient humans giving them the ability to dominate their environments and evolve to what we are today.
Mushrooms have a vital role in human development, but also have a crucial impact on the environment. Mushrooms are one of the main decomposers of dead matter and without them, many nutrients would not be recycled into the environment. Fungi also play a big role in jumpstarting other environmental processes, including the carbon cycle. Fungi decompose dead matter, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and nutrients into the soil which will later be used by plant matter. Humans rely heavily on the continuation of this process, and thus we rely heavily on mushrooms. Though it may seem that humans live in different worlds and rarely interact, mushrooms have and will play a vital role in human history and existence.