I think I loff you!
1 Like
Itâs folly for anyone to suggest that farming mushrooms is anything close to farming cattle in terms of environmental impacts. Fungi generate much less CO2 than even other vegetables, let alone meat. Also, any water inputs can easily be reclaimed for a product like mushroom leather.
Leather may be a âby productâ by the whole point is that current beef consumption is unsustainable. And leather tanning is a pretty toxic and dirty process.
8 Likes
but at this stage mushrooms are not produced in amounts similar to meat. I am sure once the production is scaled the equasion will change as well.
The problem in production for meat and vegetables is that they are removed from markets and contexual aggriculture.
And so are the calculatins.
No, I donât buy meat from Brazil if I can help it at all (and it is difficult if you want corned beef)
I think the calculation does not jive when you say meat needs so much more water than plants, but neg;ect to disclose that a lot of our produce is produced in arid climates and does a lot of damage to the aquifers. Almonds are a big issue!
And while mushrooms can be yummie, I doubt they back enough macro nutrients to take up a largt part in nutrition.
the key is balance.
The meat production should not be removed from produce production and vice versa.
Alas, we went this way.
1 Like
I agree we need diversity and geographic specific solutions. But letâs be honestâŠ99% of our leather doesnât come from pasture raised heritage beef cattle. It comes from Brazilian McDonaldâs cattle.
Our best solution is to champion reusing and rebuilding existing saddles but thatâs a pretty niche skill set without the payoff of $8k+ custom saddles which donât hold up like they used to!
5 Likes
true.
Also I think I read somewhere that render leather is better than slaughterhouse leather
And of course the cattle no longer grazes for years, thus the leather is not as thick as it used to be when we used slow producing steers.
we need to eat less. Less of everything, and get away from all the fads. And eat more locally produced foods
and now I am starving and want a steak.
5 Likes
I could be mistaken, but I canât imagine the number of cows needed to provide enough leather to make a yearâs worth of saddles for the world comes anywhere close to the number of cows needed to provide a yearâs worth of meat at the current consumption rate.
4 Likes
Not sure what you are trying to say??? How is that answer supposed to show that meat production is not destroying the environment??
But it is telling that you jump on me instead of the people who made fun of the topic 
. Itâs ok. You prove my point that most people here are not willing to think out of the box in order to do something for the environmentâŠ.
2 Likes
You can get sick from eating too many mushrooms.
We loved mushrooms, as a kid, when living in the mountains farming, I was in charge of going every morning early in August to look for them, would come back with two baskets full.
We ate them all during the season and never could have enough, all different kinds of them.
Once our parents were gone a few days and my brothers and I decided we didnât want anything to eat but mushrooms and I cooked a big batch.
We ate them all, wonderful mushrooms they were.
Later were sick from indigestion, just ate way too many.
We still loved mushrooms, but learned not to eat quite so many at once.
As for cattle, many forget or donât know all the products that are manufactured with substances obtained from cattle, that are not counted when just using the meat we eat to compare with other products, plus that cattle production today is way more efficient than just 30 years ago, using way less resources, why we are producing the same amount of cattle products with about only half the cattle it took decades ago.
Now, that is in the US and Canada and a few first world countries.
There are man other countries that their cattle production is less efficient and carries a negative carbon load, but even they are getting better at it.
All this is made with products from cattle:
1 Like
So when you sit on a mushroom saddle do you sit like shiitake?
13 Likes
I actually wish I could like mushrooms, and Iâve tried! Once in awhile a few on a pizza or in a curry or something sort of works. Itâs both the texture and taste, I just really have to force 'em in.
2 Likes
Seriously, weâre talking about mushroom leather. Thatâs not likely to become an alternative to meat production, no matter how sustainable it is a leather production opportunity.
Your anger seems misplaced on this topic. Itâs cool, sure. But itâs unlikely to be a solution to the environmental issues from meat production, simply because beef industry isnât really for the purpose of leather production. And I agree that farming mushrooms for eating is not going to be the same environmental impact of mass producing them for something like leather. Just like almond milk, or soybeans that can be made into fake meat.
Yes, we can do better for the environment by reducing meat production. We donât have to all be vegans. I buy my meat locally. Thatâs an option.
Editing to say - I thought this thread was about mushroom colored leather. Like these - https://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/Baretraps-Alysha-Knee-High-Boots-Mushroom/33711818/product.html?cid=283047&szredirectid=16389605668652383488210080301008005&track=bizrate
2 Likes
Hey, fatty acids and I are BFFs⊠
So, all, you more than likely wiped your face with some beef fat (and hair, and bones, and ear tagsâŠ) this morning.
Even your car tires have stearic acid in them. Just like oil and gas, the slaughter industry is far more pervasive than you think!
2 Likes
i have two pair of mushroom colored boots. Almost identical except one pair is about 6 inches taller
2 Likes
Thats funny, there is an underground mushroom farm just outside Ottawa too!
1 Like
Very large boarding facility near me uses straw bedding. Semi arrives every week to empty the dumpster and take it to a mushroom farm for composting and use. No cost to facility, and kept out of the landfill.
7 Likes
I always liked the fact that in SoCalif., the manure and shavings mixture that we pulled from our stalls was trucked away, sanitized somehow, and then used specifically to grow mushrooms. Then Iâd buy those same mushrooms at the local grocery store.
5 Likes
Just adding some science to the discussion. I did my PhD with folks who worked in the countryâs only mushroom science program, so Iâm speaking from pretty extensive experience. I attended far more mushroom research seminars than I would have liked, and spent probably too much time in one of the mushroom labs.
Mushrooms are actually quite a sustainable crop. PA, the mushroom capitol of America, uses preferentially used horse bedding as the substrate. Studies says it works better than chicken bedding. (Funny story from one of my best friends: the issue with getting the bedding from race tracks is finding discarded needles in it). Itâs first composted, which kills off many microbes and releases nutrients. Fungi are detritivores; natureâs scavengers.
âMushroomsâ are actually the fruiting bodies of specific fungi. Most of the biomass is mycelia, which is basically a mat of fungal cells which does the decomposing and eating. This is what theyâre talking about using, not the fruiting bodies themselves. At least in white button mushrooms/portobello (Agaricus), itâs actually a byproduct.
A quick google search shows some of these companies use âshelf fungiâ, which have inedible fruiting bodies but are great at decomposing old wood. Mycelia tend to grow very quickly in cool, dark conditions (which made many elements of working with them very easy), and can be very tough (which makes DNA extractions not so easy).
For mushroom allergies: most fungal allergies are to spores, which would not be in a product like this. Food allergies would also not be a concern here.
-Your Friendly Neighborhood Microbiologist
22 Likes
Shelf mushrooms are cool. I once harvested some to make a wreath. Found feathers and mushrooms. Didnât turn out âŠâbeautifulâ but i did hang it on a door for a while!
13 Likes
Thatâs really cool.
I think mushrooms might be the coolest creatures ever. In my ânext lifeâ Iâm a mushroom researcher.
3 Likes
It was probably slightly off topic to react to those posters making fun of the subject, but IMO every step in the right direction is a good step, however small it may be. So I might have overreacted to those Naysayers
not sure about the US in the moment but in Germany itâs a fast growing market and now with the new Government I have hopes that more research will be done in that direction.
And I found another source which makes this mushroom leather sound even betterâŠ
2 Likes
