Are Mushrooms Really A Food?

I don’t know what to do with mushrooms. It’s a fungus but a food. I love foods that have some flavoring with mushrooms but then again, I’m not sure if it’s the mushrooms that make the flavor. Does a mushroom actually have a flavor?

I’m not the person to answer that because I’m not going to actually eat a mushroom. I can’t stand them. Again – it’s not really about their flavor. It’s the fact that they slide down your mouth and throat. It’s like post-nasal drip.

Oysters are another case in point. I remember my first oyster sliding down the back of my neck. DISSSS-GUSTING. Fried oysters – whole other story.

Okra is another food like this. Pickled okra was actually invented to hide the massive amounts of green, slimy snot in the South. Fried okra is completely different. It’s not possible to have to much fried okra. Which brings me to another random point – if someone orders okra, they mean fried okra. I was in a restaurant in the South and I ordered okra and the waitress said – “Fried or pickled?”

I just looked at her. What the heck kind of question is that? Why would anyone order pickled okra on purpose???? Of course, fried.

You could repeat this same conversation about squash.

In fact, you can deep fry pretty much anything and it’s going to taste good. Well…maybe not good but better than if it weren’t deep fried. Fried pickles is one instance where I don’t think frying helps. You can still taste the pickleness through the friedness. But that’s a flavor thing, not a texture thing and completely off-topic.

I bring all of this up because I recently ate a casserole that had mushrooms in it. The flavor was great until I bit into one of the ‘shrooms. It was one of those “I think I just threw up in my mouth” moments. And it got me thinking.

I don’t think mushrooms are a real food. It’s like a basil leaf.