Patagonia Fungi, Trails And Tastes®. Fostering local development through identity valued wild edible mushrooms

BARROETAVEÑA, C.; PILDAIN MB

Suwa

Workshop; International workshop on edible mycorrhizal mushrooms IWEMM10; 2019

International organizing comette IWEMM

The western region of Patagonia (Argentina) has a wide strip of native subantarcticforest, and a forest-steppe ecotone area with exotic conifers plantations andmeadow to the east. Edible wild mushrooms are one of the most diverse andabundant "non-wood forest products", although largely underutilized. Previousscientific and technical studies looking at the whole picture were conducted,dealing with diversity, taxonomy, ecology, nutritional and antioxidantsprofiles, post-harvest treatments, domestication, etnomycology, among othertopics. The joined production of scientific knowledge with know-how transfer actionsto harvesters and to the gastronomical and tourism sectors, allowed us to goforward and propose that the successful use of this non-timber forest resourcewill largely depend on a strategy to promote novel uses for mushrooms, linkedto mycogastronomy, functional foods and mycotourism. These goals began to besuccessfully addressed from Patagonia Fungi, Trails and Flavors®, our technologicaland scientific platform, that received the political support from the sixPatagonian provinces and the National Science Secretariat through a Bioeconomygrant. Since then, a coordinated strategy to achieve direct transfer to theentire value chain was settled, generating outreach material includingbrochures, booklets, manuals, audio-video material and website publishing, and ICTsfor mushroom identification and good harvest and post-harvest practices. Alsopublic lectures, trainings, workshops, events, setting of mycotouristic trails,surveys among restaurants, and interaction with growers and chefs to developnew recipes and value added products are being performed. These activitiesinvolve the multiple use of Patagonia´s forest environments, promoting theirvaluation and conservation.