On 16 Oct 2005 10:07:20 -0700, wrote:

"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.

For the record, I wasn't saying that it is harder in the US. I spoke
about the US because that is the only area I know.

I'm not surprised you took it the way you did. I often see,
especially regarding politics, business, everyday life, Americans
speaking about the US as if, it seems to me, they are saying things
are different here from other places or every other place. I don't
know for sure they mean that, but most are not qualified to speak
about the rest of the world and they only imagine what it is like
there. I'm not qualified either, but I've traveled outside the US a
bit and seen enough that I didn't expect to know I'm not qualified.

I did consider it possible that in some areas there were NO poisonous
mushrooms, just like in Maine there are, I'm told, no poisonous
snakes. I get strange comfort from that when I'm hiking in Maryland,
if you want to know how easily confused I am.

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.

Fair enough. Thanks for the correction. Maybe he could find a
club near him which could come out and check. Although even then, if
the ones growing now were safe, would that mean that all the ones next
month or next year would be? I know that some toddlers will eat
everything they can find, so I don't think any system that left them
growing when she was outside would work..

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.