This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Mushrooms are among the oldest, most abundant and diverse natural resources in our province. There are more than 3230 species listed so far! Long underestimated, their tourism and gastronomic potential has been fully expressed in recent years, with the proliferation of activities, events, recipes and products featuring them. Put on a comfortable outfit, arm yourself with a small knife and a basket and learn about the pleasures of mycotourism, a hobby that is gaining more and more followers in Quebec!
Why and how do people become interested in picking or even growing mushrooms? In the preface of the guide On the way to mushrooms, directed by Pascale G. Malenfant, an expert in mycological development at the MRC de Kamouraska, we can read these few words from the co-owner of the restaurant Côté Est, Perle Morency: “In the beginning, somewhere in us, an impulse. This call to take the key to the woods […] From the side of the road to the forest garden, in the immensity of our boreal territory. »
This call of nature, more and more Quebecers and visitors attracted by a form of sensitive, authentic and responsible tourism succumb to it. A development closely followed by Pascale G. Malenfant, who indicates that “Quebec is a leader in mycotourism in North America. We have the greatest quantity and quality of offers here, whether in terms of products or expertise”.
A very wide range of activities
We quickly discover, on reading the guide of Mme Malenfant, that mycotourism takes many forms. “You can go into the forest with a guide, but also pick your own wild or cultivated mushrooms, take part in practical initiation workshops (agroforestry or mushroom growing, cooking, processing), visit interpretation centers and exhibits, photograph mushrooms, attend special events. There are as many formulas as there are mycotourists, it’s abounding! exclaims the expert.
Strolling through the regions of Quebec from May to October, you can meet pioneers of picking like Myco Sylva, which offers activities to discover forest mushrooms and mycogastronomic weekends in the Upper Laurentians. since 2001. You can also meet innovators like Yvan Perreault, from the Jardin des Nuts, in Lanaudière, who combines the production of northern nuts with activities to discover lesser-known mushrooms, especially those of heat waves and late-ripening ones. Or, at Mycoterre, located in Centre-du-Québec, you can visit a mushroom farm and learn about growing oyster mushrooms and picking truffles.
“It was impossible for me to identify all the companies and restaurants that showcase Quebec mushrooms,” admits Pascale G. Malenfant. But the 32 places I have selected are all well-established, consistent, headed by real enthusiasts. Because, in the end, all the flavor of mycotourism is closely linked to the people who lead these activities. »
Mycotourism, a gastronomic version
François-Xavier Fauck is one of the mycology enthusiasts that Mme Malenfant presents in his guide. Originally from France, where mushroom picking was rooted in his family traditions, he immediately fell in love with the boreal forests and wild spaces of Quebec. So much so that he ran for a few years, with his wife, Céline Dufour, an outfitter only accessible by seaplane in Lac-Saint-Jean.
Subsequently, when he founded, in Quebec City, in 2012, Chapeau les bois, a mixed concept of boutique, distribution, restaurant, mycobrasserie (with a range of four mushroom beers!) and activities on forest mushrooms and non-timber products, he had already completed 15 years of prospecting to find out if his crazy idea of getting into fungal treasures was viable. “The tourism and gastronomic potential of this specialty is incredible! he still says today.
Mr. Fauck thus organizes initiation days during which participants learn the basics of picking while enjoying a brunch (including omelettes, sausages and forest sautéed mushrooms) made up of mushrooms that they will then identify and pick in forest with the expert.
“These are activities open to all and well popularized,” explains the enthusiast. We discover the three main families of edible mushrooms (lamellae, hydnes, boletes) and those that we must stay away from, such as amanitas. We teach how to pick mushrooms without trampling them (the mushroom behaves like a fruit, it grows back every year if we don’t break what constitutes its roots, the mycelium) and we help people to identify and interpret their finds. »
But beyond these moments of sharing, François-Xavier Fauck has above all at heart the enhancement of a forest ecosystem that is damaged by the clear cuts of forestry. “We want to show that there is another equally, if not more, economically profitable way of using our forests while protecting biodiversity,” he insists. A change of mentality to which mycotourism can certainly contribute.
Other mycotourism suggestions
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.