"Everyone says that one cant' tell in the US what is edible by looking
at it."

That of course is untrue. There's nothing specific about mushrooms in
the US that makes them any harder to identify that mushrooms anywhere
else in the world. There are numerous clubs around the country for
mushroom aficionados that go out and pick wild mushrooms all the time.
I pick them myself, having learned specific ones that are edible and
how to identify them from my grandparents a long time ago. Every
horror story I've ever heard was from someone who behaved like a total
idiot, didn't bother to learn anything about what they were doing, and
just went out and picked something that looked tastey.

I'm not advocating anyone should or needs to do this. Just that if
done properly it's no more dangerous than many other activities that
people engage in all the time.