Seened toidulaual
Mushrooms In Our Food

Summary/Abstract: The article shows that there have been two main patterns in using mushrooms in food during the last couple of centuries: on the one hand mushrooms have helped poor people during famines, on the other hand terms like healthy, exotic, … have been used to describe mushrooms in food terminology. During the last 100 years the line between these two patterns has diminished. The 20th century shook Estonia with two great wars. Shortage of food is usual during wars, and also in Estonia many people suffered from hunger during the war periods. The propaganda for mushrooms and mushrooming in journalism was directly induced by the lack of food but the propaganda was effectively supported also by the image that mushrooms had acquired before – mushrooms as healthy food. The economic crisis after the collapse of the Soviet Union weekened also the nation’s purchasing power and it was reflected in the food consumption. Mushrooms gave poor people an opportunity to enrich their diets. This was common in the whole territory of the former Soviet Union. However, then journalism did not propagandize mushrooms as widely as during the earlier periods of crisis. It would be correct to say – propaganda has not disappeared but now regular introduction of mushrooms takes place in journalism every autumn despite the economic situation or the amount of mushrooms in the woods. In our food mushrooms have acquired a not very important but a secure position.

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