MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Is THIS why some mushrooms taste like steak?

By

As someone who avoids Red Meat, Pork, Chicken and processed foods I eat a lot of mushrooms – fried in the right manner they have a taste reminiscent of a decent steak. (See: Why someone said to me; “Buying non alcoholic beer is like paying a hooker to cuddle!”)

All classifications of life until recently, beginning with the simple classification of plant or animal, were based on physical observations of how things looked, even under a microscope. This is how the closeness and relationships between species, genera, classes, orders and kingdoms were decided.

The humble mushroom fungi has always been classified as a plant but we may have to rethink that thought – AND vegetarians may have to reconsider the humble mushroom as a food source!

Animals and fungi share a common ancestor and branched away from plants at some point about 1.1 billion years ago. It was only later that animals and fungi separated on the genealogical tree of life, making mushrooms more closely related to humans than plants. Most likely, this common ancestor was a single-celled organism that had sperm-like characteristics (like an animal) and then a later developmental stage with a stronger cell wall (fungi).

Now this is where it gets…. uncomfortable: Mushrooms propagate by spreading spores (almost like tossing sperm into the air!) and not in the more traditional plant like method via seeds.

So, next time you tuck into a mushroom spare a thought for the fact that you could not be eating an ENTIRELY vegetarian meal.

The evolutionary concept has spread through the different branches of human knowledge and spread the spores of mushrooms. Each new season countless spores are released into the air by the mushroom kingdom. For a few days, everybody tries to play to the best of their ability. The original strategy of these beings is to manufacture many possibilities of survival. Each of these reproductive cells bear a different fate. No fall both on the same site. The genetic code that each carries in its chromosome is unique. They may be very similar, almost identical, but some succeed and others (the majority) no.

The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy LinkedIn profileMy Flickr profileMy Pinterest profile

Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.