We should farm mushrooms in a large scale instead of wheat, rice, corn etc, so that we have more land for urbanization.

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jthomas287@reddit

This isn't a crazy idea and it done already.

The Pennsylvania Farm Show has a huge exhibit every year about it, since its one the states largest exports.

They mix them into burgers, its pretty good.

I think its kinda like tofu or beyond meat, it hasn't caught on mainstream yet.

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BenjaminHamnett@reddit

People been selling portabella mushrooms as meat replacements for decades. I think we should be eating mushrooms daily, or with every meal

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Steve-Shouts@reddit

Please expand on this for those who live under a rock. I think they grow faster than most other crops, too.

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They dont taste horrible, but honestly its like that parks and recreation episode where Chris makes this crazy delicious burger out of a burger with no meat and Ron just tosses down cheap beef and everyone loves the beef more.

They need to figure out a way to make them taste better. The no meat options are honestly cheaper than most of the meat options too.

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tennantsmith@reddit

The parks and rec episode was turkey burger vs beef burger.

Vegetarian options like portabella burgers or black bean burgers are good on their own but not good substitutes for a beef burger. Impossible patties are like 90% of the way there and Beyond is like 80% there

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AdministrativeLeg14@reddit

One minor drawback of those meat substitutes is that they're made mostly out of common allergens. Obviously not an issue for most people but for those of us allergic to legumes... (Sounds a bit weird but keep in mind that peanuts are legumes and that cross-reactivity is a thing.)

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GoTeamLightningbolt@reddit

Whoever came up with portobello mushrooms as burger replacement needs to start an apology tour where they explain that 60 calories of mushroom is not a sufficient main course to serve to the vegan wedding guests.

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Treebam3@reddit

As a vegetarian that likes mushrooms, portabella mushroom burgers are absolutely not good or worth it

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CowBoyDanIndie@reddit

Mushrooms have barely any calories, they are hard to digest because of chitin. 1 pound of mushrooms only has about 100 calories. One pound of wheat contains about 1500 calories.

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BenjaminHamnett@reddit

For most westerners, that’s probably a good thing

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CowBoyDanIndie@reddit

Try eating a pound of mushrooms.

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boofishy8@reddit

I’ve eaten a half ounce before and I can attest that your life would change drastically after the difficulty encountered from a pound

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CowBoyDanIndie@reddit

I can do about 8 oz (precook weight) of Shiitake or oyster mushrooms, they are delicious if cooked right and I love them, but the mushroom itself is not a lot of calories, I cook them in butter and the butter is far more calories than the mushroom itself. Button/cremini/portabella are trash, they are also the only ones that are suitable for “large scale” since they grow on animal shit. Thats actually the funny thing about this post.. large scale mushroom farming requires large quantities of animal manure, usually from cattle. The better mushrooms I mentioned are usually grown on wood, though they can grow on other things.

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5corch@reddit

I love how innocently you missed the joke the guy you are responding to went for.

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mambotomato@reddit

I tried they once in college, before I knew they were so low in calories. Didn't eat mushrooms again for probably a year after. Nothing horrible happened, I just lost my appetite for them.

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CowBoyDanIndie@reddit

They are really hard to digest in large quantities, especially if not really well cooked. At a cellular level they are as tough as a crab shell.

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PeterNippelstein@reddit

They'll just coat them in batter and fry them or some shit

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lmscar12@reddit

Batter = wheat, fry = soybean oil. Not exactly helping OP's thesis here.

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Fragraham@reddit

Not gonna lie, I've had this exact thing, and it's delicious.

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dill2687@reddit

We do…fried mushroom appetizers

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Weary-Monk9666@reddit

Brother, mushrooms are delicious but they cannot replace the staple grains in society

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topazco@reddit

Also make them bigger so we can live in them like smurfs

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sierrabravo1984@reddit

Or Master Telroth at Tel Mithrin. They even come with floating magic elevators.

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OsotoViking@reddit

You mean Master Neloth at Tel Mithryn. Do you even Elder Scrolls, brah?

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Cynical_Tripster@reddit

IF that's an Elder Scrolls reference, that's why Morrowwind is the GOAT. Lore built into gameplay. Don't have levitation? Can't get to the next level.

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Jdevers77@reddit

Did we run out of land? It seems like we still have a shitload of good land. It might not be exactly where we want it to be, but growing corn, rice, and wheat rarely steals prime land from cities and cities themselves seem to have no problem growing out and up.

Certainly it doesn’t seem like a big enough problem that we would starve the entire planet to death since wheats rice, and corn provide the vast majority of calories people on the planet eat but mushrooms provide almost none.

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helikophis@reddit

We need wheat, rice, corn etc as a substrate to grow the mushrooms on. They can’t make their own energy.

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AltForObvious1177@reddit

We're not running out of land

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Confident-Syrup-7543@reddit

Mushrooms cannot photosynthesize making them an inherently energy inefficient source of calories. They are great in certain applications but as a base for agriculture they are very expensive in terms of both space and other resources.

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Ok-Title-270@reddit

We have no shortage of land for urbanization

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tomqmasters@reddit

there's plenty of land for urbanization.

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PunchBeard@reddit

Look at any large city and see all the unused land and abandoned buildings and you'll realize that there's no shortage of space or urbanization. What you're proposing sounds more like an attempt to suburbanize areas that are now utilized for farming.

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xEthrHopeless@reddit

Mushrooms are one of the few foods I can't force myself to eat, I'd rather we didn't lmao

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Tomj_Oad@reddit

Could we step back to OPs questions before this thread is completely detailed?

Yes, mushrooms would be an amazing use of our waste. Shortened recycling loops and more vegan food

Win win win

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wezworldwide@reddit

I can grow mushrooms in bulk…but not the kind you are thinking about

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BenjaminHamnett@reddit

“Where we’re going, you won’t need food”

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moustachedelait@reddit

Mushroom don't grow on nothing. If you take the substrate into account, you lose the space efficiency.

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xrelaht@reddit

They don’t need sunlight: you can build the city right over them leaving a crawl space and they won’t care.

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moustachedelait@reddit

You're not hearing what I'm saying. The stuff that mushrooms grow on, does require space and water and sunlight. It's more efficient to eat that stuff.

Mushrooms are great for growing on agricultural waste, but they will never be as efficient as the agricultural products producing that waste. You can't just scale up mushroom production without scaling up straw, wood, soy hulls, corn husks etc.

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Anubis-Hound@reddit

And have them attain sentience and take over the world? Yeah, that's just what Big Mushroom wants!

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simonbleu@reddit

We do, just not as much because they are not as good for feeding your as say, soy, is. Is not a good tradeoff.

Also, we do not need more land for urbanization, theres plenty free already, the thing is, no one wants to live there because it is too far from their jobs, their entertainment and whatnot.

So, the solution really is just building better infrastructure outside of cities

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Financial_Road7425@reddit

that's actually a wild idea, mushrooms are way less resource-intensive and can grow in all kinds of environments. could help tackle food shortages too, fr.

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walrusthrowawayv2@reddit

that’s actually a pretty interesting point, mushrooms use way less land and water than traditional crops. plus, they’re packed with nutrients. could shift some agricultural practices for sure