On the third Tuesday of each month from September thru May, the Mycological Society of San Francisco hosts a General Meeting open to Members and the public. The Society has maintained our schedule of events using electronic media, Zoom, to meet and share our mission to educate about the kingdom of Fungi.
In-person meeting at the Randall Museum
Doors open at 6:30pm
Hospitality hour and ID of mushroom specimens in the Buckley Room.
At 7:20pm everyone moves to the Theater. General meeting and Zoom session start at 7:30pm.
First Announcements are made followed by the featured presentation of the evening and attendee questions.
We wind up at 8:30pm, people are able-bodied help stack chairs;
the room needs to be cleared by 9:00.
General meetings are open to the public.
Talk Title:
Female Mushroom Hunters of Zambia: Food, Medicine and Livelihoods
Talk Title: Female Mushroom Hunters of Zambia: Food, Medicine and Livelihoods
Description:
Zambia, a country in sub-tropical southeastern Africa, experiences a burst of fungal abundance during the rainy season when the ectomycorrhizal miombo forests fill with mushrooms. Zambia is a mycophilic culture, where mushrooms are loved and celebrated. The forests yield a variety of edible mushrooms such as chanterelles, Russulas, and Lactifluus species, as well as the highly prized Termitomyces titanicus, the world’s largest edible mushroom. For many communities, mushrooms are a crucial seasonal food source. Mothers, grandmothers, and aunties teach children from an early age how to forage and identify mushrooms safely, using songs, stories, and hands-on experience to pass down this essential knowledge. For women, mushroom gathering also becomes a source of income.
This talk is based on Mai Lovaas’ MSc Global Health thesis from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology titled Female Mushroom Hunters in Zambian Miombo Woodlands: Food, Medicine, Livelihoods, and Environmental Change.
Bio:
Mai Lovaas was born and raised in Norway and has lived in California for many years. She began studying plants and mushrooms in 2012 while attending the Berkeley Herbal Center, later incorporating her passion for fungi into her MSc in Global Health at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. Through The Norwegian Association for Mycology and Foraging, Mai became a certified mushroom identification expert. During the fall season, she can often be found at mushroom identification stations across Norway, helping foragers distinguish between edible and poisonous species.
| 5/20/2025 |    |