Russian mushroom lovers lose themselves in fungi hunt

Irina Fedino was expecting a pleasant walk when she went to pick mushrooms near her home in the Russian Urals. She returned almost a month later, emaciated and covered in mosquito bites, to tell her husband that she had been lost in the forest. Her tale of survival has fascinated Russians, for whom the annual hunt for mushrooms takes on an almost religious intensity. Getting lost, it seems, is an occupational hazard for many as they scour the forests for fungi and forget the way home.

Experienced pickers pack maps and compasses and on websites, mushroom clubs discuss the best pocket satellite navigation devices. Scores of people still go missing each autumn in the vast Russian wilderness, forcing officers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations to look for them. Most are found within a few hours or days, but some are presumed eaten by bears.

Mrs Fedino, 37, recounted how she had been terrified by howling wolves at night as she wandered disorientated near the town of Nizhnaya Salda. She said that she survived on mushrooms and berries for 24 days.



Her husband Aleksi said: “I was sure I would never see her again because the rescue services had looked for two weeks and found no trace of her. She was in a terrible state when she turned up. She spotted some fresh car tracks and followed them until she met a hunter who helped her get out.”

Rescue services have recorded almost 70 cases of missing mushroomers in recent months, from Irkutsk in eastern Siberia to the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, where at least five people have died. More than 120 people went missing outside St Petersburg in one month after a bumper harvest in 2003.

Devotees said that it was easy to lose track of time and place in the hunt for edible treasures that are preserved and eaten through the winter. It is a ritual that has passed through generations and few are deterred by tales of tragedy. Irina Kravkova, 81, has collected mushrooms all her life. She said: “They are so beautiful and each one is different. I look for them everywhere and each time I find a mushroom it gives me such pleasure.”