The Indonesians who hunt for wild mushrooms
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Loading... - Feng Huang
- 03 Aug 2022
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Before the pandemic, Aisha Kusumasomantri used to go trekking. The unprecedented situation drove her to find a new outdoor activity while social distancing and she started mushroom hunting in various city forests in Greater Jakarta.
Before the pandemic, Aisha Kusumasomantri used to go trekking. The unprecedented situation drove her to find a new outdoor activity while social distancing and she started mushroom hunting in various city forests in Greater Jakarta. “I never knew before that there was a mushroom hunter group. I looked it up online and found Komunitas Pemburu Jamur Indonesia [Indonesian Mushroom Hunters Community, usually abbreviated as KPJI] on Facebook," she said.
The 30-year-old’s interest in mushrooms was influenced by her parents, who used to go on hunts when they resided in Germany. “My parents bought me mushroom hunting guides and I tried to memorize [the different types of mushrooms]. At first, I was attracted to mushrooms because they came in so many shapes and colors," said Aisha, a lecturer at the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Indonesia (FISIP UI). "To me, mushrooms are mysterious as they are neither animals or plants, yet they exist among us," she added. Ferry Augustinus has also made the most of his spare time since the beginning of the pandemic by hunting for mushrooms in a city forest in Semarang, Central Java. The 45-year-old biology graduate has been fond of mushrooms since he was a student. Read More...
