Fungi Friday with Mycologist Christian Schwarz + Tacos

Join us for a special evening with leading mycologist Christian Schwarzl! Learn helpful foraging tips and enjoy an optional delicious taco dinner.

Fri Jan 31st, 6:00-9:00 pm

Berkeley, CA

This is a small venue and will sell out quickly, so make sure to get tickets right away!

Making Scents of Fungi, from Stench to Perfume

If you've ever gone on a walk with an old-time mushroom picker, you've probably noticed that they often lift mushrooms to their noses as soon as they pick them. Besides being intriguing, alluring, and surprising, the aromas of fungi can be extremely important clues for identification. Come take an olfactory tiptoe through the world of fungi! We'll talk about the anatomy, philosophy, and even the politics of olfaction! Who knows where our conversation might lead us...

We will do our best to get some specimens for a fun experiential smell-a-thon that will help you get deeper into your senses, hone your identification skills, grow your myco-olfactory vocab beyond “it smells earthy”, or “it smells mushroomy” and of course be better equipped to answer “Can I eat that?”

Arrive Early For Dinner (optional)

Get treated to a variety of delicious tacos including seasonal wild mushrooms, guinea hen, and carnitas by Chef Caleb Avalos.

Event Schedule:

6 pm: Doors & optional dinner

7 pm-8:30: Talk with Christian Schwarz

8:30-9:00 Book signing and Q&A

9:00pm Event Ends

CHRISTIAN SCHWARZ  is an itinerant naturalist from California. He is co-author of "Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast” as well as the upcoming "Mushrooms of Cascadia". Fungi satisfy his curiosity with their endless forms – from the grotesque to the bizarre to the sublime – and provide a rich lens through which to learn about the bigger pictures of ecology and evolution. He loves fish, plants, nudibranchs, moths, and dragonflies, and is passionate about community science.

Our last event like this with Christian’s co-author Noah Siegel filled up very quickly! Get tickets right away if you’d like to join this special event.