The ancients were none too complimentary about their fungi. "Few of them are good, and most produce a choking sensation," wrote Marcus Athenaeus of Naucratis 1,800 years ago in "Deipnosophistae" ("Philosophers at Dinner").

The proto-vegetarian and Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger had been equally disdainful some three centuries before that. "Mushrooms are not really food," he snooted, "but are relished to bully the sated stomach into further eating."

Seemingly, Bedouins of old were even more robustly opinionated, and wouldn't touch the things with a tent pole.