At 77 years, he certainly knew what he's picking up, it's not that hard to learn edible mushrooms, poisonous mushrooms and ignore the rest which may be edible but also not.
This is not remotely what the "common knowledge" about mushroom foraging is in Eastern Europe. There is a "funny" story in Bulgaria how the most famous mushroom foraging expert in Bulgaria a few decades ago died because he made a mistake when foraging.
Plenty of edible mushrooms are just "twins" of poisonous mushrooms, using animal's knowledge to not eat them, without expending the metabolic cost to actually produce poison.
> There is a "funny" story in Bulgaria how the most famous mushroom foraging expert in Bulgaria a few decades ago died because he made a mistake when foraging.
Do you have a citation or evidence for this? I ask because a while ago another commenter on HN said that the president of a mushroom society in Boston died from the same thing, and when I looked and searched I could find no mentions of this.
Without additional evidence I'm putting all claims of "Mushroom expert does from mushroom misidentification!" into the "old wives tale/bullshit bucket". These types of stories just seem to be the ones that people love to talk about and share, even if they originate as a falsehood. Again, not saying it's not possible, but I am saying without a reasonable citation I'm discounting it as BS.
If I've understood the previous commenter correctly, he's talking about a виц (comes from German witz, cognate of wit in English) which is a funny story joke that spreads by word of mouth. Here is the one in question:
Yeah, if I understand your point and link: this is not something that actually happened, it's just a joke, but after enough retellings for some reason people think that it is real.
I see the original commenter I replied to said it was just a "tale", but I don't think that's how most readers would interpret that comment. Saying something "happened a few decades ago" is oddly specific if it's just a joke/tale.
Also, the whole point of their comment was to emphasize how foraging for mushrooms is dangerous - using an old wives tale as "evidence" for your position would be a very odd choice indeed.
It is very much an old wives tale. I was not trying to make it sound otherwise. It is just representative of the attitude locals have to foraging: it is popular, but it is understood to be dangerous and mishaps still happen.
To become an expert you have to be a little bit adventurous. Average forager knows and gathers maybe 10 species of mushrooms that are hardest to mistake for anything else and leaves alone anything that looks just a little bit different.
It is true that there are "twins" but they are not the commonly foraged ones. Common ones are quite easily distinguished from the poisonous ones, and those that have bad twins, the twins also taste pretty bad (extremely bitter, etc.) If you don't try to eat every possible edible mushroom as a sport but stick to the most easily recognized ones you'll be fine.
You are reading too much in what I said. Of course weird things are happening in an unstable dictatorship like Russia and this guy might have been assassinated for one reason or another. That does not mean it is not nice to give people context about the culture in that end of the world though.
I think you make it sound more exotic than it is. People pick mushrooms around the world. Slightly more common in SE-Europe, a bit less so than a few decades ago. People tend to stick to the 1-2 species they know best, poisonings are extremely rare.
Fair point, but I am surprised to hear that. My US friends (New England) have been extremely surprised when they hear that foraging for mushrooms is common where I come from (on the rare occasions when this comes up).
It is also pretty common in parts of the US. They probably don't know about that either. I know people who go morel hunting every spring in the midwest (Iowa and Illinois, specifically).
77 is long past the point at which we usually ask people to retire from safety-critical roles. Even when retirement isn't forced, regular evaluation is strongly encouraged for people that old. For instance, consider this statement from the American College of Surgeons:
> Although age-related deterioration varies from individual to individual, gradual decline in overall health, physical dexterity, and cognition generally occurs after the age of 65. For this reason, it is recommended that, starting at age 65 to 70, surgeons undergo voluntary and confidential baseline physical examination and visual testing by their personal physician for overall health assessment. Regular interval reevaluation thereafter is prudent for those without identifiable issues on the index examination. Surgeons are encouraged to also voluntarily assess their neurocognitive function using confidential online tools. As a part of one’s professional obligation, voluntary self-disclosure of any concerning and validated findings is encouraged, and limitation of activities may be appropriate.
