How do microbes affect food?

An inevitable consequence of the start of agricultural practices that heralded the dawn of civilisation was the need to store crops from one season to the next. This brought with it the risk of microbial contamination and spoilage. The problems of food spoilage are, therefore, as old as civilisation. Not all spoilage, however, is detrimental. Fermentation, for example, can vastly improve the flavours of foods and can also turn an inedible food into a delicacy. The food processing industry has thus been exploiting microbes for centuries. Even so, it is only in the last 150 years or so that we have realised the contribution that microbes make to food production.

How are fungi used as food?

Probably the most familiar edible fungus is the mushroom. We have been eating mushrooms for centuries. The Romans valued mushrooms but were also very familiar with their potentially fatal effects. Sometimes they used this knowledge to great effect when someone important obstructed their ambitions. Agrippina murdered the emperor Claudius by feeding him mushrooms so her son Nero could succeed him as emperor. Nero then declared mushrooms the food of the gods, since it was mushrooms that had made Claudius a god. There is even a mushroom known as Caesar's mushroom (Amanita caesarea). This is a rather rare and highly prized specimen: a close relative of the death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides).