Mushroom exhibition. Mushroom festival in the Apothecary Garden
On November 9, the White Truffle Festival starts in San Miniato - one of the most exquisite mushroom festivals. In our selection we will tell you about it and other famous mushroom festivals that will captivate gourmets and lovers of “quiet hunting”.
Every November, the Italian town of San Miniato turns into a worldwide gathering of gourmets, because only here and only at this time can you try white truffles - the most valuable and expensive of all mushrooms. It is believed that they are much tastier and more refined than French ones. The festival program includes not only the sale of these mushrooms and their tasting, but also many seminars where they teach how to properly prepare truffles. Performances by musicians, street theaters, film festivals, and exhibitions take place on the streets. You can even feel like a getter of these wonderful mushrooms when you go looking for them.
The forests around the Hutsul settlement of Vorokhta have long been famous as an excellent source of mushrooms. In September 2009, the Mushroom Festival was held there for the first time, and it has become an annual tradition. The main event of the festival is a mushroom picking competition - everyone competes to see who can fill their basket the fastest. Local residents conduct master classes on cooking Hutsul cuisine. Fans of active recreation play mushroom football and raft on the river. In addition to mushroom-themed entertainment, a holiday is not complete without masters of the circus genre - magicians and jugglers perform, and spectacular fire shows are shown.
On August 23-26, Telluride (Colorado, USA) also hosts a mushroom festival. It is not surprising that the Americans chose this city - it is surrounded by a protected forest in which mushrooms grow and multiply very quickly. Here you can see a variety of types of edible, poisonous, and even hallucinogenic mushrooms. The organizers hold lectures on recognizing them and how to properly prepare them. Participants hold a parade, dressing up in mushroom costumes, and organize mass hikes into the forest.
In the northern capital of Russia - St. Petersburg - a Mushroom and Berry Festival is held every year. The celebration takes place outdoors, in Pavlovsky Park. All visitors can try various mushroom dishes, buy mushroom medicines at the pharmacy, chat with experienced mushroom pickers, buy souvenirs, mushroom and berry preparations. As at other holidays, here you can take part in competitions and quizzes, and watch the performances of street performers.
The Matsutake festival is regularly held in the Asian city of Ur (Bhutan). The holiday got its name from a local pine mushroom. Matsutake is highly valued in surrounding countries and plays an important role not only in cooking, but also in the culture of Japan, Korea and China. People come here to enjoy the exquisite taste of this mushroom and learn how to collect it in accordance with traditions, praising nature for such a generous gift.
On October 1 and 2, 2016, the 14th traditional city autumn holiday - the Mushroom and Berries Festival - will be held in St. Petersburg. For a long time in Rus', with the onset of autumn, the whole family went mushroom picking and berry picking, returning from the forest with baskets full of forest gifts. Mushroom and berry picking is a special event: a traditional public trade and an exciting form of recreation. Residents of a big city, going to the forest thicket, step away from the hustle and bustle of the metropolis, enjoying the peace and tranquility of nature. And where else, if not in St. Petersburg with the most beautiful nature of the Leningrad region, could such an amazing and unusual holiday as the festival of mushrooms and berries originate? This year the holiday will be held for the 14th time. Over the years, thousands and thousands of visitors have come to love and are waiting for this “delicious” event.
The organizer - the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Creative Union of Cultural Workers - holds the festival with the aim of improving the culture of citizens' attitude towards nature, as well as supporting national traditions in the field of collecting, preparing and consuming berries and mushrooms. At the festival, guests will be able to find out where to pick mushrooms and berries and how to behave in the forest. They will learn to distinguish edible from unedible and preserve the ecology of the forest. Experienced tourists will tell you and show you what to do if you get lost in the forest or how to prevent a fire.
In 2016, the Festival will be held at three main venues:
- “Fair Square” - where the concert and games program will take place;
- “Kizhi” - where the amusement town will be located;
- “Mushroom Kitchen” - where visitors can enjoy culinary master classes and fights.
While the children are playing, their parents will receive useful advice from qualified herbal healers. The medicinal properties of mushrooms will be revealed by specialists from "Mushroom Pharmacy"(fungotherapists). A unique specialized "Mushroom Exhibition" where numerous species of mushrooms from the Leningrad region will be presented. There you can also consult with mycologists (biologists specializing in the study of fungi).
And of course, the traditional "Exhibition-fair", where you can buy the entire arsenal for a “quiet hunt,” a basket for mushrooms, a raincoat, spices for preparations, and useful handicrafts. And also mushrooms in all types - fresh, boiled, salted, dried and pickled. Raw and soaked berries, jams of all kinds, drinks, fruit drinks and jelly.
Fresh mushrooms with potatoes and cook mushroom soup in a 1000-liter cauldron.
By the way, the organizers guarantee that mushrooms and berries for sale will arrive from the most environmentally friendly regions of Russia.
On October 8 and 9, from 11.00 to 19.00, the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University “Apothecary Garden” will host a Mushroom Festival dedicated to mushroom cultures in science, art, gastronomy, applied creativity and everyday life. Festival guests will be able to get acquainted with mushroom culture in a variety of aspects - walking, watching and tasting.
In the program- lectures by mycologists, educational and entertaining master classes, an exhibition of works by contemporary artists, a fermentation club meeting, a children's playground and a mushroom food court with tastings. The event will take place as part of the closing of the Colors of Autumn Festival of Flowers, Harvest and Art.
Lectures will be read by Mikhail Vishnevsky, Fyodor Karpov, Alexey Tishenkov, Daniil Koganovich and other speakers. Master classes During the day they will be devoted to the use of mushrooms in arts and crafts: creating mushroom paper, mushroom dyes and the like. In addition, the Glass Academy will present show with fire and glass- everyone can make a glass mushroom as a souvenir.
At the exhibition of contemporary artists, who were inspired by mushroom cultures and their life, will present works by Alexander Vyazmensky, Alexander Morozov, Vlad Kulkov, Anastasia Pribelskaya, Artem Mishukov, Olga Kaminka. The exhibition will be located both in open and closed areas of the garden.
On the playground children and their parents will be told about edible and inedible mushrooms, how to distinguish them, where to look and why they look that way. You can also create fun mushroom objects and go on an interesting tour of the mushroom exhibition.
Schedule of master classes:
From 11.00 to 18.00 - “City Farm” master classes at VDNKh for young children from 3 years old on the covered veranda of Yulia Vysotskaya’s Food Embassy restaurant. The program includes weaving straw mushrooms, building mushroom farms, coloring and much more. During this time, adults will be able to attend mushroom lectures in the greenhouse complex or dine at the Food Embassy restaurant with a large assortment of mushroom dishes.
12.00 - 14.30 and 15.00 - 17.30 - workshop “Mysterious Forest. Transformations" in a tent in a clearing for children over 7 years old. The children will study the life of mushrooms in the forest and the life of the forest itself, and then create “mushroom” hats and organize a Mushroom Parade along the alleys of the “Apothecary Garden”. Number of participants - up to 25 children. It is recommended to visit the mushroom exhibition before visiting.
14.00 - 15.00, 15.00 - 16.00, 16.00 - 17.00 - master classes “Mushroom prints” for adults and children over 7 years old in the hall of the greenhouse complex. Participants will learn how to print mushrooms on fabric and paper. The technology is simple, the process is exciting, and the result is impressive. Those wishing to decorate a T-shirt must bring one; materials will be provided by the organizers. Number of participants - up to 15 people.
17.00 - 18.00, 18.00 - 19.00, 19.00 - 20.00 - master classes “Mushroom forms in wax: decorative objects and candles» for adults and children over 7 years old in the hall of the greenhouse complex. Participants will learn how to make a mushroom-shaped candle and decorative items. Participation in the master class for children without parents is impossible, since the technology for creating the object includes heating wax over an open fire and interacting with hot dishes.
From 14.00 to 15.30- educational and play session for parents with children over 7 years old “What to do if you are lost in the forest.” Number of participants - up to 30 (children + parents).
In addition to master classes, on October 8 and 9, a mushroom exhibition with excursions and other events of the Mushroom Festival are open for children.
Greetings! On October 1-2, the annual festival of mushrooms and berries took place in St. Petersburg. My husband, my youngest daughter, and I visited it today while my eldest daughter was at a painting master class (you can read my review about the “I Create” studio). Thanks to the organizers for such an educational, bright and interesting festival!
Once on the territory of the Botanical Garden, we saw that the territory was beautifully decorated with flower beds.
The festival itself occupies not only the "Green House" pavilion, but there is also action on the street and a stage has been set up.
To the left of the entrance to the exhibition there is a field kitchen. We were impressed by the huge cauldron with a ladle in which the mushroom soup was cooked.
Near the entrance there was a fair where they sold mushrooms, berries, honey, pickles, souvenirs, gingerbread and much more.
Life-size puppets walked around, music thundered loudly and children danced with all their might next to the shopping arcades.
To be honest, we were specifically interested in the mushroom exhibition, so we didn’t stay long at the fair, but went straight to the pavilion. The walls were decorated with photographs of mushrooms, there were also leaflets with various explanations about the properties of mushrooms, and there were flower arrangements.
Mushrooms lay in piles on the tables, all labeled in detail.
Red signs meant that the mushroom was poisonous. Green signs - mushrooms are edible. Yellow plates - mushrooms are conditionally edible or edible in a certain state. Also, there were large white signs with the name of a group of mushrooms.
The exposition began with tree mushrooms, then all the others. I never thought there were so many of them.
All are very different in color, size and even smell. You could pick up the mushrooms and smell them, but it was recommended to wash your hands with soap afterwards. I heard that some people even licked them.
Professional mycologists stood next to the mushrooms - it was clear that these were real mushroom lovers and experts. They answered all questions. Some people came with mushrooms - they were helped to identify the type of mushroom and answered whether it was edible.
Some mushrooms were very large, like Grifola, for example.
Others were as tiny as cattails.
I was surprised that there were so many edible mushrooms. We learned that not all mushrooms are tasty, even if they are not poisonous. So it’s not in vain that everyone collects the standard and well-known mushroom picker’s kit.
Many mushrooms had funny names: talkers, hedgehogs, greenfinches
The greenfinches, by the way, were really green.
In the second hall there was a separate closed display case with very poisonous mushrooms. There I saw a pale grebe for the first time in my life.
Another panther fly agaric, spider web
And dung beetle
Separately on the table lay a huge bag of sawdust on which oyster mushrooms grew. I wanted to see them grow for so long that I looked at them for a long time. The oyster mushroom colony is impressive.
We made several discoveries at the exhibition. For example, I've always wondered why some raincoats emit smoke and some don't. It turns out that there is a real raincoat, which in old age contains dust and it is this that “smoke” if you step on it.
There is a false raincoat, which is not only without “smoke”, but also poisonous
My husband finally found out which honey mushrooms are edible. There are many types of them and the lighting did not allow us to photograph the differences. The main thing is that edible honey mushrooms should have scales and a pleasant smell.
Edible honey mushrooms differ from each other in taste - this must be collected, prepared and compared.
Also, we learned everything in detail about planting mushrooms in a summer cottage. There are a lot of subtleties here. If it works out, I'll make a separate review.
Some mushrooms were very bright, but edible.
Postcard. Watercolor by A. Vyazmensky
I would like to add that there is a children's playground on the territory of the Botanical Garden. Today we used it to do face painting for children.
The Mushroom Festival is an annual event in St. Petersburg, plan to visit it next year!
P.S. I would like the entry of people into the exhibition pavilion to be slightly limited. We came to the very opening and had a great look at everything. We wanted to go through the exhibition a second time, but it was no longer possible to approach the tables.
A mushroom festival was held in the capital of Russia, delighting not only avid mushroom pickers, but also those who were simply interested in learning something new about mushrooms. The event, held annually, is dedicated to mushroom cultures in science, art, gastronomy and even applied arts. The venue for the festival was the botanical garden "Aptekarsky Ogorod", which is a favorite vacation spot for many Moscow residents.
Among the things presented at the festival, we can mention educational lectures given by mycologists (scientists working on the study of mushrooms), educational and entertaining master classes on the use of mushrooms in applied art (creating mushroom paper, mushroom dyes), an exhibition of works by contemporary artists (among those who were inspired by mushroom cultures and their life, one can name Alexander Vyazmensky, Anastasia Pribelskaya, Artem Mishukov, Olga Kaminka, Ekaterina Borisova), located in both open and closed areas of the Apothecary Garden, a fermentation club meeting and a children's playground. A notable “charm,” according to a number of visitors, was the mushroom food court, where those who wished could try various mushroom dishes without fear of the sad consequences that sometimes befall even fairly experienced mushroom pickers. Unfortunately, even many of those who would like to go on a mushroom hike do not have the opportunity to do so - firstly, as they say, “you need to know the places”; Without knowing the mushroom places, you can walk through the forest for a very long time, tired of fruitless searches and getting more disappointment from it than pleasure. Secondly, most of us have the standard Saturday and Sunday as days off, when such a stream of those hungry for “mushroom meat” runs into the forests that competition simply leaves no chance for decent catch. Buying fresh mushrooms, with the exception of honey mushrooms, champignons and - occasionally - oyster mushrooms, is almost impossible, unless you are lucky and somewhere in a secluded corner near the railway station you find a grandmother with a basket selling her catch.
The kombucha bar deserves special mention. Most of our compatriots, when they hear the word “kombucha”, just shrug their shoulders - this word is unfamiliar to them. Therefore, it is perhaps worth talking about this in a little more detail. So what is kombucha? In fact, this is a drink obtained using the so-called “kombucha” through fermentation. Since ancient times, the healing and mild stimulating properties of kombucha have been known and in demand by people. Sometimes the drink is simply called kombucha, which, in general, is not entirely true - after all, kombucha is a culture that develops in a liquid and forms a drink as a product of its vital activity. Accordingly, we can safely say that kombucha is definitely a natural drink.
It’s quite simple to prepare – all you need is kombucha, tea leaves and sugar. Enzymes secreted by the fungus transform sweet tea and an original drink that includes a large amount of trace elements, vitamins, enzymes and basic organic acids.
Kombucha as a drink was first mentioned in Chinese documents from the Qin Dynasty, in 221 BC. Then, having gained fame in the Middle Kingdom, the drink migrated to Japan, and then became known in Russia and Europe. Chronicles say that at one time a monk from Tibet named Kombu, famous for his special love of nature, went to the imperial palace of the ruler Inkyo and presented him as a gift of kombucha, which was called kombucha after the name of its donor. The emperor, having tasted the drink, experienced such unearthly pleasure that he immediately expressed his gratitude to the monk. From that time on, the ruler turned into a true connoisseur of the newly discovered drink, and decided that it was worthy of being distributed throughout his empire. Quite quickly, the drink was appreciated not only by the emperor, but also by many of his subjects.
But let's return from ancient times to the present. Some asked why such a festival is needed at all? It seems that everyone already knows about mushrooms, literally from childhood... However, it turns out that everything is far from so simple. It happens that adult, educated people cannot immediately answer a tricky question: “Is a mushroom a plant or a lichen?” So the priority of the festival is not even entertainment, but rather the popularization of knowledge about mushrooms in general.
It’s nice that a children’s playground was also organized, where children and their parents could learn in detail about edible and inedible mushrooms, understand how to distinguish them, where it’s best to look and why they look like that. Those who wished could try their hand at creating “fun mushroom objects” and go on an interesting excursion to a mushroom exhibition specially organized in collaboration with SPBMiO.
The festival turned out to be fun and educational at the same time. Let's wish good luck to future mushroom pickers, both experienced ones and those who will be inspired to take autumn hikes by the events of the past festival.