The Second Regional Foray in Mexico with the
North American Mycological Association!
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READ the glowing review of NAMA_MX23 on Page 20 of the Mycophile Quarterly, the Publication of the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) -----------------------> WATCH the recording of Zachary Hunter's February 20th, 2024 NAMA Official Webinar presentation:
"Lessons from Mexico: Humanity, Ecology and Mushrooms" <----------------------- |
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If you are anywhere near the orbit of anyone who took the leap to attend this first-of-its-kind NAMA Mycological Foray in Mexico in 2023, you know, because they haven't shut up about it. What started out as a tantalizing idea in early 2022 became a pivotal and ground-breaking interconnection between mycologists in Mexico and the United States; long-time coming connections between the indigenous communities of Mexico State, attendees and visiting chefs... connections that will last a lifetime. Our attendees came from all over North America, and all shared the wonder and awe at what The Fungivore and Symbiosis Viva la Funga orchestrated and directed!
And now we've done it again: 20 folks joined eminent Mexican mycologists, forayed with the indigenous communities of the Mazahua and the Pjiekakjoo, learn first-hand about ethnomycology from the people immersed in it every day; learn from Michelin star chefs and celebrated foodies in a Mycophagy Lab presentation of cooking mushrooms. All the while situated in the most luxurious settings for a mushroom foray yet, the 5-billion Star Hotel Rodavento in Valle de Bravo. This home for our full 5 days together is a setting without parallel: nestled in mixed pine and oak forest at 7500ft elevation, this eco-resort all but disappears into the natural surroundings, overflowing with a variety of fungi over the 40 acre wild property. It didn't disappoint in 2024!!
See our day-by-day itinerary below, under the Key Trip Details section.
And now we've done it again: 20 folks joined eminent Mexican mycologists, forayed with the indigenous communities of the Mazahua and the Pjiekakjoo, learn first-hand about ethnomycology from the people immersed in it every day; learn from Michelin star chefs and celebrated foodies in a Mycophagy Lab presentation of cooking mushrooms. All the while situated in the most luxurious settings for a mushroom foray yet, the 5-billion Star Hotel Rodavento in Valle de Bravo. This home for our full 5 days together is a setting without parallel: nestled in mixed pine and oak forest at 7500ft elevation, this eco-resort all but disappears into the natural surroundings, overflowing with a variety of fungi over the 40 acre wild property. It didn't disappoint in 2024!!
See our day-by-day itinerary below, under the Key Trip Details section.
A unique and authentic adventure in a beautiful, rain forest-like mountains in Mexico, full of mushrooms and complete with a 5 star mountain resort. So much about this beautiful tour was a pleasant surprise. I seek mushroom experts who... are ... knowledgeable in their use by indigenous people. I was so surprised and pleased at the assembled [group] of Mexico's leading mycologists and ethnomycologists. They shared with us their work, and we joined them, their students, and members of the indigenous communities in whose forests we foraged, for amazing mushroom hunts..." |
Key Trip Details
Cooking wild mushrooms over the traditional 'comal,' a hot plate of metal or ceramic heated by wood-fire
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Length: 6 nights
Average Foray Distance: 2 miles/day Altitude: 7,000-9,000 feet Exertion Level: Easy to Moderate Accommodations: - 5 Day & Nights in Hotel Rodavento All meals included: 6 Dinners; 6 Breakfasts; 6 Lunches) Amenities: Spa Circuit included; Incredible fungi-rich 40 acres of accomodations & grounds. |
Elinoar Shavit shows off a
gorgeous Exsudoporus frostii.
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Day-to-Day Itinerary Overview
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August 3rd- Day 1: Opening Dinner and Mixer with Monstrua de Agua and Chef Mathias Vera-Cruz Dutrinet.
August 4th - Day 2: Travel to Valle de Bravo; lunch, tour of the hotel grounds, and Introductory courses for iNaturalist, Vouchering, welcome lecture, dinner; August 5th - Day 3: full foray day with communities; lunch in the field; dinner and evening talks at Rodavento about our foray locations and introductions to our field mycologists. August 6th - Day 4: Full day (Spa circuit open for all guests) of programming, talks about our first goals (continued in next column) |
The Mexican-Spanish verb Honguer means "to pick mushrooms," and extends to one who picks mushrooms, such as this young and incredibly knowledgeable small child fo the Oxtotilpan community, she is a Honguera.
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August 6th - Day 4 (continued): Evening panel on Mexican mycology in the present day, challenges, excitements and hopes.
August 7th - Day 5: full foray day with communities; lunch in the field; dinner and evening talks at Rodavento on ethnomycology and the indigenous perspective August 8th - Day 6: full day at Rodavento (spa circuit open for guests), foray on-site, cooking class extravaganza, chefs presentations, followed by our last night dance party! August 9th - Day 7: Breakfast and ID Table Talk, wrap up, Lunch at Yecapixtla on the way back to CDMX. END.* |
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*Mexico City is one of the most amazing cities on the planet, and definitely in the top 3 in North America for it's museums, ruins, restaurants, art, activities and so much more. We cannot recommend highly enough to extend your time in Mexico city on one or both ends of your time with NAMA_MX24. We are happy to provide an introduction to the city as well.
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Lectures, Presentations, Forays, Cooking Classes, Dance Parties, Mushroom Beer tasting, 5-star food, Indigenous Panels, Community Foraging, Science and Friends.
What could possibly go right?
("That's what they say just before EVERYTHING goes right!")
It is hard to go into the amount detail possible to convey just how amazing our first go at this event was in 2023, so it is best to show you a very limited slice of show... All we can say is, for 2024, we have taken all that was amazing and amplified it, and anything that needed improvement has been improved! After such a successful event last year, our partners, the chefs, the participating mycologists and more are very excited to really take this opportunity to share and explore the burgeoning mycology of Mexico with everyone.
Please read both the Mycophile Quarterly article, an articulate review of the event by Bruch Reed, and take a look at the NAMA_MX23 Extended Program, complete with biographies of participating chefs and mycologists. We haven't yet released the line-up for 2024, though needless to say several of our participants will be returning for our second round. We are exploring some very exciting new content this year, as one of the main areas we have expanded is time during the day for programming. Needless to say, you won't be disappointed.
Please read both the Mycophile Quarterly article, an articulate review of the event by Bruch Reed, and take a look at the NAMA_MX23 Extended Program, complete with biographies of participating chefs and mycologists. We haven't yet released the line-up for 2024, though needless to say several of our participants will be returning for our second round. We are exploring some very exciting new content this year, as one of the main areas we have expanded is time during the day for programming. Needless to say, you won't be disappointed.
Community Partnerships
While Mexico and the United States share a continent, the differences in how each has evolved with respect to the indigenous people is strikingly different. Both countries boast numerous cities, lakes, monuments, forests and states named in some of the languages of the original inhabitants (although in Mexico, many of those names are themselves in the language of the Méxica/Aztec conquerors, Nahuatl, who appeared in the early 1300s and were the dominant force until the Spanish Invasion, ruling an empire of anywhere from 12-25 million inhabitants). In the United States the 'official' nod to the indigenous as a crucial piece of our history seems to stop there. Gambling rights on "reservations" notwithstanding, the Native Americans are comparatively an afterthought in USA pop culture. We Americans are only just now--in the 2020s--understanding the magnitude of the Mounded Earth City civilizations like Cahokia, not to mention countless kingdoms and democracies that littered the US and Canada over its 25,000 year history with people.
The long-awaited crack in our willful ignorance stands in stark contrast to Mexico, where an idolization and fantasy have gripped our attention over the mysterious pyramids and complex cosmologies. Most Americans probably know more about the Mayans than they do their local indigenous histories. What's more, in Mexico many indigenous communities have been able to stay on their traditional lands--at least in far greater percentage than the rest of North America--despite countless conquests and invasions from neighbors, the Aztec, the Spanish, modern industrialization--and in some places even the hippies! This is not to say the indigenous were not--are not--marginalized, quite the opposite, of course. This is planet earth in the grip of capitalism after all! But the impact on humanity and ecology having hundreds if not thousands of years in a place cannot be overstated.
The long-awaited crack in our willful ignorance stands in stark contrast to Mexico, where an idolization and fantasy have gripped our attention over the mysterious pyramids and complex cosmologies. Most Americans probably know more about the Mayans than they do their local indigenous histories. What's more, in Mexico many indigenous communities have been able to stay on their traditional lands--at least in far greater percentage than the rest of North America--despite countless conquests and invasions from neighbors, the Aztec, the Spanish, modern industrialization--and in some places even the hippies! This is not to say the indigenous were not--are not--marginalized, quite the opposite, of course. This is planet earth in the grip of capitalism after all! But the impact on humanity and ecology having hundreds if not thousands of years in a place cannot be overstated.
Community produced poster of edible fungi from the Pjiekakjoo (say Pee-kah-koo) community in Mexico State.
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Wild mushroom (Craterellus tubaeformis and C. lutescens) on sale at the folk market in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca.
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A poster of some of the edible mushrooms known in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca.
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Much of Mexico's thriving wilderness is under the jurisdiction of these indigenous communities. Many of these communities have been operating under a democratic consensus model for centuries if not millennia. Each community is its own entity, has it's own customs, it's own language(!) and it's own relationship to the natural world, to each other and the 'outside' world. They not only love to hunt and eat mushrooms, but are incredibly knowledgeable in the care of their forests, in the types and parts of mushrooms, and the various growing cycles, the manner in which to harvest, the ecology and so much more, learned after hundreds of years of sustainable forestry management. We at the The Fungivore earnestly believe that learning from the ecological model that includes people, especially the indigenous, as the caretakers of the planet rather than exclude them "for nature's sake" is essential. Mexico and her innumerable communities provide an excellent example of where to begin this essential learning.
As the world wakes up to the importance of knowing all of our histories combined, Mexico has a lot to share. Some of these communities still adhere to traditional dress, eat traditional foods, and almost all speak their native language at home--Mexico is home to hundreds of indigenous languages still spoken today. In 2023, we heard from communities speaking Tlahuica, Matlatzinca, and Mazahua; we have contacts in both Nahuatl and Otomi communities in the region as well. Interacting with these traditional communities was a highlight for everyone... because "traditional" in Mexico means mushrooms! Mexico's indigenous populations consume a greater variety of wild mushrooms-per-capita than anywhere else in the world. In fact, there is a Spanish verb only heard in Mexico that refers to the act of picking mushrooms: honguer (say: Ohng Gher); the mushroom pickers are known as Hongueras [f] (say: Ohng gher ahs) or Hongueros [m] (say: Ohng gher ohs).
¡Vayamos a Mexico, amigos... Hongueremos!
¡Vayamos a Mexico, amigos... Hongueremos!
The Icing on the cake? Rodavento's unparalleled accommodations...
You've never been to a mushroom foray like this (unless you came last year, and if so, welcome back)! Hotel Rodavento, a "5-billion star" eco-resort located just outside of Valle de Bravo in EdoMex (Mexico State) is a state-of-the-art adventure hotel. As mentioned above, this hotel is set within and hidden by a sprawling 40-acre property of mixed pine and oak forest. During NAMA_MX23, we found a wider variety of mushrooms just on the grounds of the hotel than any other location we traversed. Here, everything, every need is attended to by the incredible staff, the meals are thoughtful and varied, and the setting allows a relaxation and camaraderie unlike any we have experienced.
We are expanding our time at the hotel for 2024, to give everyone more time to enjoy both the grounds, and this year, we are including the renowned spa circuit for all guests for the days we will be staying at the hotel. Last year several oyster mushrooms, a chanterelle, boletes, and several more species were all found just within the spa grounds themselves. Did we properly communicate how this experience is over the top, yet?
We are expanding our time at the hotel for 2024, to give everyone more time to enjoy both the grounds, and this year, we are including the renowned spa circuit for all guests for the days we will be staying at the hotel. Last year several oyster mushrooms, a chanterelle, boletes, and several more species were all found just within the spa grounds themselves. Did we properly communicate how this experience is over the top, yet?
WHAT NAMA_MX23 ATTENDEES SAID
Mazahua community matriarch Cici kneads the masa for our post-foray community meal.
"My trip was just blissful--lots of mushrooms, great travel companions, excellent food. I already loved Mexico, and now I love it more."
- Barbara; Tennessee; past NAMA President. "It was flipping fantastic, I'd do it again in a heartbeat!!”
- Noel; Louisiana "It was beyond belief! More fantastical than I could have imagined."
- Charlie; California |
"The trip exceeded my expectations. You will see a side of Mexico that most tourists don't get to experience."
- Ron; Texas "It was amazing. The city and countryside were inviting and offered a variety of experiences. The mushrooming was abundant. The people were open and generous."
- Cornelia; Georgia 
2023 Attendee Heather Brooks' (@smallwoodlandthings on IG) signature mandala, created especially during the event.
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"The opportunity to meet and forage with top Mexican mycologists, US mycologists as well as local indigenous community members was truly the opportunity of a lifetime. Everyone was generous and enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge. I was incredibly inspired—intellectually and spiritually."
-Leigh; California
-Leigh; California
Check out our 2023and 2024
events in the State of Mexico
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Take a look at the Extended Programs of the previous two year
organized and assembled by
Ireri Monter, CEO of Symbiosis Viva La Funga
organized and assembled by
Ireri Monter, CEO of Symbiosis Viva La Funga
Our NAMA_MX24 Team
Zachary & Kim
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Ireri Monter
Mycologist & CEO, Symbiosis Viva La Funga
Ireri Monter is a Mexican biologist from the Faculty of Sciences, UNAM. She is the founder and CEO of Symbiosis Viva La Funga, an organization dedicated to educating and dispersing edible mushrooms to chefs in Mexico City directy from the rural communities.
She has specialized in mycotourism and environmental education, as well as identification and consumption of wild edible mushrooms from Central Mexico. Ireri has also dine important research on the identification and quantification of mycotoxins in food and on the production, marketing and research of products derived from functional fungi. |
Bruch Reed
COO; North American Mycological AssociationBruch Reed, one of the few paid staff of the North American Mycological Association is one of the hardest working myco-geeks in the field. He is the operating energy behind NAMA. Living in Chicago, Bruch is dedicated to the practice of vouchering, and works closely with the Chicago Field Museum to keep a store vouchered records from NAMA's regional forays since the late 1990s, with literally thousands of mushroom species recorded, dried and stored.
Bruch was instrumental in the NAMA_MX23 for the organization and operation of the vouchering program, which came away with several hundred species to explore further. |
The Cost, How to Join, and What is Covered:
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Payment Policy, Non-Refundable Deposit and Refund Schedule
Payments for the trip shall be made in full, and includes the NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT (NRD) of $500 which helps us secure accommodations, reserve transportation, book restaurants, and secure the tour. With this payment commitment, your deposit will be returned to you only on one of two conditions: the trip is completely canceled (all monies will be returned), or you help arrange for someone else to take your place. Refunds for cancellations will be returned on the following schedule:
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How to Join
We review each application to make sure this adventure is a good fit for all participants, and give us insight on how to create the best experience for the whole group. Upon review, we're reach out after January 15th to discuss group informational calls, and offer payment links, as well next steps. We will fill the trip in the order of applications received and deposits secured. Our group size is capped at 75 participants and we have very high interest this year. If you are even a little interested, get your spot on the list for 2024! Payment plans are available on a case-by-case basis, and accrue a small fee. Please send an email to info@thefungivore.com to explore this option. |
What is Covered on Trip
*Double occupancy is assumed for our available accommodations. If you are traveling with someone, be sure to let us know if you need 1 bed or two. **All meals from dinner August 3rd-lunch August 9th, 5 nights of luxury lodging, forays, activities, and classes are included. Alcohol, souvenirs, and some optional activities are not included. The deposit is non-refundable IN MOST CASES. We use it immediately to secure transportation, lodging and reservations. However, if the trip is canceled on our end for any reason, your money will be returned.) Neither the flight to Mexico City, nor the nights of August 3rd or August 9th (in Mexico City) are included. Please make travel arrangements to join us from your hotel or AirBnb in Mexico City for our opening event the late afternoon of August 3rd, 2024. We highly recommend adding days to either end of your stay in CDMX. |
