The Sensorial Eco-System of the Matsutake Mushroom

If we have met in person, it's likely that I would have found a way to slide mushrooms into our conversation. Whether it's their contribution to both contemporary and traditional medicine systems, their therapeutic capacities and potential to assist in our various ecological and climate crises (heavily underused I say!), I talk about these intelligent fungi often. If you are not yet bored of that, then read on for my cultural analysis, as told through the lens of the Matsutake Mushroom. This essay draws heavily on the work of Anna Tsing's phenomenal ethnography: The Mushroom at the End of the World.

For a lighter intro to the world of mushrooms, I recommend the inspiring book Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake or the beautiful film by Paul Stamets - Fantastic Fungi.

Introduction

What is the common thread that unites Japanese Gourmets, Finish Nature Guides, Hmong

Jungle Fighters, North American Foragers and Capitalist Traders? According to Tsing

(2015): Matsutake Mushrooms. This multisensorial and multi-sited ethnography examines the

state of humanity and its relationship to the world around it through the lens of the highly

sought-after mushroom and it’s orbiting cultural attachments and customs. A combination of

the fungi’s polarising flavour, the pungent aroma, historical discourse and it’s growing

scarcity have rendered Tricholoma Matsutake a cultural emblem. In this essay, I will be

exploring how cultural practices, attitudes and connections emerge from sensorial experience

through the lens of the Matsutake mushroom. Using Tsing’s collection of research works that

compile “The Mushroom at the End of the World” to illustrate what the senses can tell us

about globalisation and industrialisation, cultural attitudes and the gift economy in relation to

the Matsutake supply chain.

Matsutake in a Globalised World

During this delightfully meanderous ethnography, the reader is led through a vast array of

cultural contexts which make up the Matsutake supply chain. Commencing in the mountains

of Oregon and crossing continents to the restaurants where Japanese connoisseurs reside.

This work traces the journey of this cultural symbol all the way to the shelves of

supermarkets that are lined with Matsutake flavoured snacks, of which Tsing notes contains

little to no trace of the actual mushroom, this is the site that most members of the Japanese

population come closest to experiencing Matsutake’s elusive flavour.Each site is bound by a focused engagement of the senses, which grant this mushroom such

high cultural capital. What is most striking about the multi-sited nature of this research is that

Matsutake connects movements across continents. For the foragers of the United States,

Finland and South Korea to search for the mushroom, there must also be the consumer (most

notably found in Japan who reverently demand fresh supplies of the mushroom each season),

as well as the traders who set the prices. The success of the Matsutake trade cannot exist

without these distinct groups, who between them, create a global network that is mutually

beneficial and reciprocal. This is a global effort that has been made possible from

Globalisation, the “time-space compression” (Harvey 1990) which facilitates the movement

of the mushroom, as well as the production of knowledge surrounding its cultural

significance and value (Tsing and Satsuka 2008). This is juxtaposed by the locality and

seasonality that governs the forager process (Choi et al 2009). Globalisation and Foraging are

seemingly disparate, but the Matsutake supply chain somehow harmonises the two. I will

explore this unlikely synthesis in further detail below.

Arts of Noticing – A Counter Narrative to Industrial Agriculture

Tsing discusses “Arts of Noticing” (17). This is vital to the cultivation of the mushroom

during the foraging process. Matsutake tends to fruit in environments that have experienced

disturbance of some kind, usually through human, ecological or industrial action. This results

in an often hostile, remote and dangerous foraging site, leaving pickers vulnerable to injury

and disorientation, which Tsing remarks becomes an appropriate metaphor for the precarity

of the Anthropocene (27). Sites considered particularly fruitful for discovery of the

mushroom are lodgepole thickets and undersides of rocks, or better yet, underground (30).

However, it is in this precarity that a full-bodied engagement of the forager is required in order to scout for the quite unremarkable looking (and therefore, easily concealed)

mushroom. Foragers must palpate their way through stony recesses and heaps of organic

matter in order to acquire the mushroom, while the distinct scent is used as affirmation of

Matsutake identification. Foraging accounts illustrate the embodied nature of the process and

the sharpening of the senses that is vital for a safe and successful hunt. Through descriptions

of long, and often treacherous, mountainous hikes, of rummaging through plant matter and

picking up on scent trails that may be indicate Matsutake presence. The accounts are

reminiscent of Palaeolithic hunter-gathering methods (Gowdy 1997). Seemingly more

‘sophisticated’ industrial methods have moved our contemporary agricultural practices

toward a more mechanised system, contributing to the attitude that a civilised society has

little use for senses such as smell, taste or touch (Classen 1998). Contrary to this, the

gathering of Matsutake is in-fact a highly skilled and intricate endeavour. Hence, “Arts of

Noticing” – the role of Matsutake picker is inherently artful and requires a careful attunement

of the senses to the practice.

Tsing compares the hunt for Matsutake as a dance – “lines of life are pursued through senses,

movements, and orientations. The dance is a form of forest knowledge” (241). One forager

informs the ethnographer that a masterful picker discovers the mushroom not by simply

‘happening’ upon the fruiting body, but by following the cues of the environment (243). He

claims that one becomes attuned to the rhythm of life within the forest, picking up on signs of

movement and life that indicate the presence of the mushroom. Something he refers to as

sensing “a heave, which can be imagined as the breath of the mushroom” (242). This account

suggests the cultivation of a state of consonance with the forest, as if the forager has

developed (or perhaps remembered) a sixth sense that connects him with the mushroom and

the eco-system that both the mushroom and the forager belong to. As I read these compelling

accounts of embodiment that the workers that search for Matsutake speak of, I am reminded of the natural phenomenon of entrainment, where groups of animals (such as birds or fish)

move in rhythmic synchronicity (Takahashi and Menaker 1982). Though I am mindful of an

over-romanticisation of the forager experience, (as the Matsutake hunting can provide harsh

conditions and does not always promise success) the accounts feel like a poetic counter to

industrial agriculture and the effects of capitalism on global food practices. The Matsutake

Picker cultivates qualities of intuition, instinct and harmony with his or her environment. In

stark contrast, contemporary farming practices of the Global North have become mechanistic

and exploitative (Olsen 1990). The accounts of Tsing’s research participants are refreshing

and charming, for they provide a counter narrative to the dominance of industrial farming and

a return to reverence of the natural world.

Cultural Entanglements – What Makes Matsutake, Matsutake?

The sensorial nature of Matsutake and its journey through the supply chain is made evident in

this ethnography. Tsing invites the reader to “follow (her) to savour the autumn aroma” (2)

that has so tightly entangled itself with the fungus. Matsutake’s scent has become iconised as

a mark of seasonality, signifying the close of Summer and the transition into the slower and

more introspective months of Autumn. “The smell evokes sadness, but it also calls up the

sharp intensity and heightened sensibilities of Autumn” (2). As such, it has become a motif in

popular culture, art, theatre, poetry, anime and even the art of tea ceremony (7). These are

significant loci where culture, the arts and to an extent, Japanese cosmological belief,

intersect, tying the mushroom to a sense of cultural identity. Kondo (1983) elaborates on

Japanese tea ceremony which I consider particularly impactful in establishing Matsutake as a

cultural symbol. The art of tea ceremony entails the methodical preparation and consumption

of the tea, which is considered to represent the nature of reality and directs practitionerstowards paths of wisdom and higher consciousness, according to Zen Buddhism. This is

believed to be executed through a fine-tuning of the senses to the ceremony and a focusing of

the practitioner’s awareness to the present moment. With these religious and philosophical

connotations, some indication is given of the reverence that Matsutake has generated within

Japanese culture and why this may be expressed in areas such as the Matsutake’s monetary

value and consumer demand.

When a symbol reoccurs within the arts in this way, it is steeped in cultural attachments and

can begin to illicit more of a sensorial response as it takes on a greater emotional quality. The

discourse that is generated from the mushroom as a result of this, synthesises the symbol of

the Matsutake with physical, mental and emotional sensations. This further legitimises the

sensory attachments of the Mushroom and everything that it has come to represent. This has

resulted in Matsutake establishing itself beyond a mere food commodity, but as a status

symbol, expressed through its high prices, increasing demand and the custom of gifting

Matsutake. Something that I will explore in further depth into this essay. Curiously, Tsing

describes the innovative ways that consumer demand is satiated in a way that bypasses the

extortionate price tag for those unwilling to pay.

Aromatic Nostalgia

Interlocutor Koji Ueda reports that most customers that patronise his Kyoto vegetable stall

during Matsutake season come only to smell the mushroom, claiming the mere aroma of the

mushroom has become a source of joy and pleasure for those who are not willing to pay the

steep prices (48). This is indicated by nostalgic olfactory stories given by interlocuters “the

smell recalls time passed…like village life, visiting grandparents and chasing butterflies” (48). For many, Matsutake is rooted in a deeply nostalgic and romantic sentiment,

representative of ties to kinship and cultural identity. Tsing comments on the trend of

artificial Matsutake scented goods that have been manufactured by Japanese odour engineers

in recent years to satisfy consumer demands – including ready meals, potato crisps and soups

(49). Whether the affinity to this mushroom is nourished through the real thing or just an

artificially scented replica, there is a clear nature-culture knot that Tsing remarks upon:

“Different ways of smelling and different qualities of smell are wrapped up together” … “it

seems impossible to describe the smell of matsutake without telling all the cultural and

natural histories condensed together” (52). Cultural, historical and sensual entanglements

have made matsutake what it is today, shaping Japanese food and cultural trends. This has

become so pervasive that many will make do with a man-made replica in lieu of the natural

good. This is not only an intriguing insight into the desirability of Matsutake, but it also

represents a fascinating process that occurs to Matsutake within the container of capitalism.

Alienation and The Commodification of Natural Resources

The transference of Matsutake from a natural occurring substance to a capitalist commodity,

which is likened by Tsing (121) to the Marxian concept of “alienation” (Marx 1994). In the

context of the Matsutake supply chain, alienation refers to the removal of the mushroom by

the forager from its wild environment (Liverman 2004) and imported into the possession of

professional wholesalers and buyers who then distribute the commodified mushroom to

clients (which may include restaurants and supermarkets who will continue the flow of trade

of the mushroom) without reference to their original source (122). Throughout the many sites

of this network, value is constantly being assigned and mediated by these players. What I find

even more fascinating however, is what follows after the mushroom has been carried through this system of commodification. It undergoes a de-commodification, during its final stage of

this chain, into a gift.

The Gift

A brief introduction to the significance of the gift economy is required to understand the final

destination of Matsutake in the supply chain, which is most often, that of a gift. The custom

of gift-giving is a universally observed custom that has long been a point of interest in the

social sciences. Gift-giving and systems of exchange presents insight into the structure of a

society and how members of that society establish and mediate their relationships (Mauss

2002). Within the study of gift economies, theories of exchange provide information on the

roles and obligations of those who participate (namely, the donor and the recipient). It also

illustrates how value is assigned to the gifted article. Malinowski’s (1920) case study of the

Kula Ring exemplifies that assigned value does not necessarily correspond to an object’s

intrinsic value, and that objects may accumulate value according to their context within the

process of exchange. Malinowski proposed that the value of the gifted article was measured

due to its relational capacity – to affirm ties of affinity and kinship.

“Matsutake in Japan is almost always a gift” (123).

Through analyses of Matsutake consumer activity, it becomes clear that Matsutake is rarely bought for the sole purpose of eating. Tsing considers Matsutake to be the quintessential gift and true to Mauss’ and Malinowski’s theories of exchange, Matsutake become extensions of the donor and becomes an instrument of affinity. It is a common practice in Japan for Matsutake mushrooms to be gifted for

purposes of courtship, celebration, commemoration and business. One research participant, a

Matsutake grocer, even explains to Tsing that he matches fresh imports with suitable buyers according to their personal circumstances. The interlocuter admits that he maintains long

term relationships with his clientele and is always alert to their personal circumstances which

may make use of the mushroom – such as weddings, ceremonies or business negotiations.

Matsutake is utilised to develop and affirm relationships for various purposes, which is what

the purpose of a gift within exchange-theory is for. An understanding of its cultural ties, as I

have explored already, may indicate why Matsutake is the perfect gift in Japanese culture.

A particularly touching account from 80-year-old Hiro speaks to the custom of gift-giving

that surrounds the mushroom. Hiro describes how his experiences of gifting Matsutake that

he himself has foraged, have established connections of affinity and kinship among those

who share in Matsutake’s cultural appreciation. This created a sense of community for Hiro

during a time of difficulty and isolation. For Hiro, giving away Matsutake is one of the

greatest pleasures of picking (244). Hiro’s other generous gift is teaching the young how to

hunt for Matsutake correctly. He believes that the generational transference of this knowledge

is vital to the preservation of Matsutake.

These ethnographic accounts are examples of contemporary gift-giving practices that have

been preserved, in spite of capitalism. As with Mauss and Malinowski, Tsing highlights the

relational power of the gift and what the gift may reveal about our societies.

Conclusion

In this essay I have attempted to reflect the journey of a natural resource through the machine

of capitalism and out the other side. In doing so, the Matsutake passes through many hands and features in many stories. United in these stories is a unique engagement of the senses that

have facilitated the emergence of new ideals, customs of exchange and cultural beliefs by

engaging with the mushroom. I believe Matsutake is an incredibly revealing metaphor for the

conditions of human society and that Tsing has unearthed great insight from her career-long

study of the humble Matsutake mushroom.

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