“Is This Edible Anyway?” The Impact of Culture on the Evolution (and Devolution) of Mushroom Knowledge

Summary

Mushrooms are a ubiquitous and essential component in our biological environment and have been of interest to humans around the globe for millennia. Knowledge about mushrooms represents a prime example of cumulative culture, one of the key processes in human evolution. Based on a review of available research, we argue that the cognitive mechanisms of cultural transmission impact this knowledge in a twofold manner. First and foremost, they secure the accumulation of (folk-)mycological knowledge, with the principal objective to capture reliable information on edibility and means for safe distinction. However, they also shape attitudes toward mushrooms, practices involved in foraging and consumption, and appraisals of edibility in distinct ways, with even regression and eventual loss of knowledge as one possible outcome. In using the domain of mushrooms as an example for expounding this dual role that culture plays during knowledge transmission, our paper contributes to theoretical debates around the cognitive and cultural mechanisms involved in human evolution.