The earth's secret miracle worker is not a plant or an animal: it's fungi

[Judi Lynn]

Giuliana Furci

Without fungi we don’t have bread, chocolate, cheese, soy sauce, beer or wine. They are also crucial to protecting our climate

Thu 11 Nov 2021 06.05 EST


The earth’s secret miracle worker is not a plant or an animal: it’s fungi
Giuliana Furci
Without fungi we don’t have bread, chocolate, cheese, soy sauce, beer or wine. They are also crucial to protecting our climate

‘Fungi are responsible for almost all our food production, and most of our processed materials. They can also be thanked for many medical breakthroughs in human history.’ Photograph: Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA

Thu 11 Nov 2021 06.05 EST


Let’s picture a dinner with family or friends that began by enjoying beer, wine, fruit juice or maybe a fizzy kombucha beverage. You’re contemplating a glorious basket of bread, rapt in awe of its perfect crumb and fantasizing about the moment you slather it in butter or olive oil. Then come the fresh vegetables sauteed with soy sauce, maybe tofu or free-range beef with potatoes or rice, followed by cheese, or a chocolate dessert – and to top it off, a lovely cup of coffee or tea with some chocolates or maybe some sake? We need to stop for a moment and thank fungi for all of this. Honestly, none of it would be possible without them, and your dinner would certainly not be so tasty!

Fungi are responsible for almost all our food production, and most of our processed materials. They are also to be thanked for many of the important medical breakthroughs in human history that treat both physical and mental ailments, for naturally sequestering and slowly releasing carbon, for optimizing industrial processes, and so much more.

When most people think about fungi, they tend to associate them with decay. Many people mistakenly believe fungi are plants. However, fungi are neither plants nor animals but rather organisms that form their own kingdom of life.

The way they feed themselves is different from other organisms: they do not photosynthesize like plants and neither do they ingest their food like animals. Fungi actually live inside their food and secrete enzymes to dissolve nutrients they then absorb.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/11/fungi-earth-secret-miracle-weapon

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1. K & R