Moletai, Lithuania, 2002

Boletus edulis is one of the few mushrooms that has fanatical admirers amongst so many food cultures. The mushroom is prized throughout most of Europe. The fanaticism of the Italians for their porcini is, for example, easily matched by the fanaticism of Russians,Poles, and Lithuanians for their boletes.

One spring day, walking in the Lithuanian town of Moletai, my wife and I came across two gardens — neighboring gardens — in which were growing a lovely crops of stone boletes. Stone and concrete mushrooms are sold in garden shops — and so crops of sculpted mushrooms are not unknown outside of Lithuania. However, in my experience, setting aside the charm of these folk sculptures, I have actually never seen a full bloom of sculpted mushrooms before. These Lithuanian bolete gardens capture the dream of the mushroom collector. A golden spot, a dozen mushrooms, a dozen dozen mushrooms, a basket more than filled, strings upon strings of drying mushrooms, summer harvest, and winter feast.