the pnw puhpowee

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 11, 2021

Award winning local chef contributes to the soon to be released Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook. 

Edited by acclaimed mushroom author Eugenia Bone the Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook [Insight Editions; 11/23], featuring over a hundred mushroom-centric recipes written by the people who know mushroom cooking best: mushroom lovers! These are the recipes you will cook for dinner: simple family friendly recipes representing many ethnicities from around the world. 

The story behind the making of this book is the story of a community. Mycophiles from all over the United States and beyond shared their mushroom recipes on the Fantastic Fungi movie website. Eugenia worked with the numerous authors to develop their recipes for publication, and in the process, many new connections and friendships were formed. It’s what Louie Schwartzberg, the director of the film Fantastic Fungi, calls the “mycelial connection.” The resulting cookbook is an accurate portrayal of a community with one thing in common: mushrooms! 

Insert award-winning local Chef Sebastian Carosi, having trained at Portland’s Western Culinary Institute where he learned an abundance of local foraging spots, tips, and techniques, from the dearly departed WCI culinary instructor, Chef Daniel Brophy. Apprenticing under renowned female chefs in Italy Chef Carosi continued to explore his connection with wild ingredients. Chef Carosi was a leader in the farm-to-form movement, focusing on regional wild edibles across the country throughout his career.  
Chef Sebastian Carosi comes from a Northern Italian family that immigrated to the United States in the early 40’s with a long history of foraging and a deep connection to wild food in their rich ancestral heritage. Finding ways throughout his career to bring his passion for wild ingredients to each and every kitchen and culinary endeavor. In the late 90’s he manned the stove at the now shuttered Knob Hill hotspot Tribeca where he featured the Woodland Wild Mushroom Strudel and the Sage and Sausage Stuffed Morels that are included in the Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook. Living off the grid in the Dark Divide between Mount St Helens and Mt Adams with his family for several months a year is generally where you will find them in the late summer and fall. With coastal kings, saffron milk caps, matsutakes, morels, lobsters, and black truffles within his grasp Chef Sebastian Carosi professes a deep addiction to the Chanterelle. Whether the Pacific Golden Chanterelle, Cascade Chanterelle, White Chanterelle, or Rainbow Chanterelle… life revolves around the Chanterelle for the chef. An overly avid forager and wild crafter, Chef Carosi has always maintained a direct link to many plentiful mushroom spots throughout the area. 

Chef Carosi could not have been happier to learn Eugenia Bone and the folks of the Fantastic Fungi community were coming together and shared in his dream of bringing more delicious wild foods to your kitchen table. Carefully selecting a wide variety of recipes that he has prepared with great success across the greater US. In the Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook, you will find his world famous Sriracha Icebox Pickled Chanterelles featuring none other than his most prized wild mushroom. You can also find a Dungeness Crab + Cordyceps Soup that will warm your tummy and heal your body on a cold day foraging the coastal dune grass. His Woodland Wild Mushroom Strudel has graced the table at more elite restaurants than our former local favorite Tribeca, but you won’t want to miss the opportunity to serve this delicious treat to your family. Share your love of wild food by sharing the love of making wild food. The Sage and Sausage Stuffed Morels are an ideal recipe to enlist some tiny hands to help with stuffing. And utilizing the unique mycological wonder and newly obsessed over culinary ingredient huitlacoche he creates a delicious late summer comfort food with his Smoky Black Bean + Huitlacoche Soup, inspired by his time along the Colorado River in Arizona. 

Mushrooms are a low-fat, fiber-rich, sustainable food. They are surprisingly varied in taste and texture, and more and more people are interested in cooking with them. But how? The days of pan frying alone are over. Dive into the world of mushrooms with this informative and engaging new cookbook that includes delightful recipes for soups, pasta dishes, salads, sides, main dishes, desserts, and more, all featuring a variety of cultivated and wild mushrooms. The Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook is a unique collection of crowd-sourced recipes, tested by Eugenia Bone and selected for publication because they are simply delicious. 

The cookbook also features five thoughtful and engaging essays written by Eugenia that explore a wide range of topics, including mushroom cooking, mushroom cultivation, mushroom foraging, mushroom nutrition, and the impacts fungi have on agriculture. A range of experts can be found in these pages, from chefs like our own PNW forager Chef Sebastian Carosi, to journalists like Langdon Cook (The Mushroom Hunters), mycologists like Dr. Tom Volk, and charismatic scientists and entrepreneurs like Tradd Cotter. With beautiful full-color photography by noted food photographer Evan Sung, this cookbook will expand your appreciation of mushrooms, their different tastes, and their many, many applications, from flavoring drinks to replacing meat. 

The most diverse and comprehensive mushroom cookbook available, The Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook is the perfect gift for anyone who is curious about the marvelous world of mushrooms and the magic they can make in the kitchen.

The author and editor Eugenia Bone is a nationally known nature and food writer. She is the former president of the New York Mycological Association and a member of the National Association of Science Writers. She has published over six books, including the James Beard–nominated Well-Preserved and Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms. Her work has appeared in many outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Saveur, and Food & Wine. She is currently featured in Michelle Obama’s Netflix series, Waffles + Mochi, in the mushroom episode (of course).

Today contributing author Chef Sebastian Carosi helps operate Camp Ruderalis, creating and hosting seasonally driven eco-gastronomic educational immersion experiences in random rural locations around the country, with a home base here in the Pacific Northwest. Ironically, he will be hosting The PNW Puhpowee. A coastal wild mushroom symposium of sorts, on the Long Beach peninsula of Washington State, this November. The event will feature noted educational speakers, foragers, experts, and enthusiasts. A three day, all inclusive, deep dive into some of the Pacific Northwest’s treasured coastal mushrooms. On the second night of  The PNW Puhpowee, on November 13th we will proudly host the Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook release party. An evening of seasonal mushroom-centric small plates, beverages and elixirs such as wassail, and a screening of the movie Fantastic Fungi. 

For tickets and information for The PNW Puhpowee please visit www.campruderalis.com/the-pnw-puhpowee for more details. 

The Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook  is available for pre-order online wherever books are sold and will be in stores November 23rd at Simon and Schuster, Amazon, and Bookshop. 

The Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook

Insight Editions | November 2021 | 08in x 10in | 208pp

Hardcover | $35.00

ISBN: 978-1-64722-295-6

Contact Info :

Chef Sebastian Carosi: chefcarosi@gmail.com | 971-282-5005

James Faccinto (Publicity Manager, Inside Editions): j.faccinto@insighteditions.com | 415-526-1370 ext. 191