Abstract
Reflecting upon a growing trend of mushroom hunting and foraging in Britain, this contribution examines both television portrayals and ethnographic experiences of the activity in order to deconstruct the narrative composition of such encounters. Including analysis of a television program, a tourist day course, a conservation ramble, and a foray with a local fungi enthusiast, the chapter suggests that these encounters with fungi all mediate diverse meanings about how nature and culture interact and what constitutes 'wild' food. Beginning with a narrative analysis of the television program, it becomes possible to read the ethnographic encounters as socially performed narratives as well, each revealing underlying perceptions of rural places and reinforcing the social and material construction of the countryside.
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Kennedy, M. (2013). The Foraged Countryside: Perceptions of Nature and Culture in Four Encounters with Fungi. In: Silva, L., Figueiredo, E. (eds) Shaping Rural Areas in Europe. GeoJournal Library, vol 107. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6796-6_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6796-6_13
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