Mushy roomies :-)

My earliest memories of mushrooms go back a long way to my teenage years. In Mangalore, one could find these umbrella-shaped forms growing in damp places, spots of white against the dark brown soil. Amma used to joke that they carried their houses on their heads :-)! Needless to say, they made a very pretty picture!


I don't remember when I first sampled mushrooms, but I do remember this - I didn't like the taste at all! So you could imagine my trepidation when CN, one of my roommates, bought a bunch of mushrooms for some culinary experiment. The smell of the cooking mushrooms was nauseating to say the least. Moreover, it was all-pervading. No matter where I went to escape that smell, it found its way to every nook and cranny of our house until I was forced to open the window and catch a whiff of the sub-zero cold air outside! A couple of hours and a frozen face later, I scurried back to the sanctuary of my room. The ordeal was over!


No matter where I went, I made it a point not to order anything that contained mushrooms. But alas, vegetarian food abroad more often than not contained mushrooms, and I couldn't fathom the reason as to how vegetarians liked it! A casual discussion with a friend who was trying to be vegetarian revealed that the taste of cooked mushrooms is akin to that of meat! Aaaarrrrgggghhh !


Slowly, my palette rediscovered the flavor of mushrooms thanks to stir-fried varieties in Thai and Chinese cuisine. I have gone as far as having them as a pizza topping. Till date, I love the sight of mushrooms growing but remain non-committal with regards to the taste.