Now That's a Dangerous Hunt

Sarah Palin has nothing on my friends in south central Indiana. She hunts moose. They hunt mushrooms. If you ask me, mushroom hunting is more dangerous.

After all, when I was growing up, my mom warned me to never eat a toadstool from the yard. They'll kill you, she said.

So you can imagine my surprise when I moved to south central Indiana and met people who not only hunt wild mushrooms, but eat them, too.

Apparently, this is pretty common there. So common, that people take vacations from work to go mushroom hunting. They even forecast the best days for mushroom hunting, based on changes in the climate.

Sometimes when the hunt is especially successful, generous mushroom hunters even bring their bounty of morels to work to share. I had to remind myself that they were trying to be friendly, and not secretly plotting to kill me.

I'm not kidding. The wrong mushroom can kill you, and only experienced mushroom hunters know the difference between yummy and deadly.

This explains why even today, when the climate is just right and my belly is rumbling for something special, I hunt for ... a jar of Green Giant.