This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on January 20, 2023. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.
Like I assume it to be for most of you, I find mushrooms fascinating, and the recent rains have unleashed a more colorful and fantastic mycological showcase than I’ve ever seen. This goes for in-real-life places near my house — red and purple and bright yellow and proudly pale protuberances popping out of the grassy patches aside Goleta’s many bike paths — to the reels of mushroom finds on social media.
Many of the Instagrammed shots center on chanterelles and other edible mushrooms, of which there are countless varieties. I also wrote about my recent chanterelle dishes in last week’s Full Belly Files , and received a number of responses, with readers both admiring the dishes and wondering how to find wild mushrooms of their own.