If you’ve ever read up on mushroom foraging, there’s pretty much only one rule: you never go by yourself the first three times without an experienced forager. 

This is because there are often incredibly subtle differences between mushrooms that are amazing to eat, and mushrooms that will kill you when eaten. These subtle nuances are a matter of life and death. 

Sometimes, mushrooms that look weird are deadly, sometimes they’re super tasty. On the other hand, small mushrooms with brown caps that are gilled can range from edible to psychoactive to extremely deadly.  Basically, mushroom foraging can be really difficult due to all the nuance needed.

We like clear, reductionist answers, because they’re easy to understand. 

However, most of the time, the hard, complex, nuanced answers are the ones that we really need.