Stagnaro’s On The Wharf 59 Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz, 423-2180, stagnarobrothers.com
RUNNERS-UP The Crow’s Nest, Riva Fish House
Coffeehouse (independent)
Cat & Cloud 3600 Portola Drive, Santa Cruz; 10 Parade St., Ste. A, Aptos 719 Swift St. Ste. 56, Santa Cruz Abbott Square, 725 Front St., Santa Cruz, catandcloud.com
RUNNERS-UP Verve, 11th Hour Coffee
Cookies
Pacific Cookie Company 1203 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, 429-6905, pacificcookie.com
RUNNERS-UP Crumbl, The Buttery
Cupcakes
The Buttery 702 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, 458-3020, butterybakery.com
Mushrooms are on my mind. Not really for culinary purposes—truthfully, unless they’re of the Chanterelle variety, I leave them off my dinner plate. However, like the millions who have been tuning in to watch The Last of Us, an edge-of-your-seat show that has inspired many viewers to Google “cordyceps,” the cause of a post-apocalyptic world overrun by this fungus that begins using humans as its hosts turning everyone into zombie-like beings with one motive: spread to others. In reality, the cordyceps fungus grows on the caterpillar of a moth and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over a thousand years as an antioxidant immune system booster; studies have also shown that cordyceps help combat kidney disease, loss of sex drive and offer many additional health benefits. Watsonville-based chef Dory Ford began cultivating cords while diving into the science of mycelium (a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching) from other species. Ford raises cords on his new farm laboratory, MycoSci, using a proprietary method Mark C. Anderson breaks down in his cover story. The Last of Us wasn’t on Ford’s radar when this endeavor first hatched. The inspiration is more related to mental health. (If you didn’t already know, May is Mental Health Month.) Ford was inspired after a “loved one” came to him, revealing that she wanted to get off of the prescription antidepressants she was on, and she was interested in psilocybin (aka magic mushrooms) as a possible treatment—psilocybin-based care in clinical settings, has proven to relieve everything from PTSD to eating disorders. The federal government still designates psilocybin as a Schedule I controlled substance. However, MycoSci is ready to pivot to medicinal psychedelics. For now, focusing on cordyceps is OK with Ford—he’s prepared to go psilocybin whenever the government is willing to admit it was wrong. Don’t forget to pick up a copy of the 2023 Best of Santa Cruz County. The online flip-thru edition is also available at goodtimes.sc
Adam Joseph | Interim Editor
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
“Kitten” stands in front of a mural at the Circle Church in Santa Cruz. Photograph by Richard Guadian.
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GOOD IDEA
Housing Santa Cruz County (HSCC) has proclaimed May as Affordable Housing Month! Several events planned throughout the county aim to tackle the region’s housing crisis. HSCC will host multi-jurisdictional policy discussions, a “Housing Element” bike tour, affordable housing project groundbreakings, affordable housing policy conversations with community leaders and more. A complete list of events is available at housingsantacruzcounty.com/affordable-housing-month
GOOD WORK
The Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County will celebrate the businesses, groups and individuals who have transformed the county at the 2023 Be the Difference Awards this month. The annual awards luncheon gives the local community a chance to thank those who donate their time to make the county a better place to live. Nominations are submitted by the community and vetted by a panel of community leaders who serve as judges this year. Tickets are $50. scvolunteercenter.org/be-the-difference-awards
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It’s a very salutary thing to realize that the rather dull universe in which most of us spend most of our time is not the only universe there is.”
While reading Steve Kettmann’s article on Spanish/English dual immersion education in Santa Cruz schools, I couldn’t help feeling a bit of pride. Going back twenty years or so, a group of parents, including myself, often visited Grant St. Park along with our young children to participate in a county program called Together in the Park. A van full of various toys appeared every week, much to the kids’ delight, and new parents got a chance to mingle a bit, comparing notes and ideas on parenthood.
There, I met Sheila C., a bold Santa Cruz activist dedicated to our community. I am a native Spanish speaker, and she is a native English speaker with a notable command of the Spanish language. It was during these gatherings that two important park-bench community projects were born. The first: El Grupo de Español, is comprised of Spanish-speaking parents and families from several American countries, including the United States, who were interested in Spanish language development, both for themselves as well as for their children. Any parent was welcome as long as they did their best to communicate in Spanish during our weekly excursions to various locations, such as parks, forests and the like. Some twenty years later, with adult children, we get together once in a while.
The second park bench project was more ambitious, encompassing the broader community. After having personally experienced bilingual, English as a Second Language (ESL) education, I quickly realized that the sole purpose of those models was to teach students English as fast as possible, leaving behind any thought of bilingual ability. After much research, signature gathering from interested parents and several School Board meetings, DeLaveaga Elementary School was designated to become Santa Cruz County’s first Spanish/English Dual Immersion program. To merge the two projects, the participants from El Grupo de Español were, and still are, part of the teaching staff at DeLaveaga Elementary School.
Gabriel W.
These letters do not necessarily reflect the views of Good Times.To submit a letter to the editor of Good Times: Letters should be originals—not copies of letters sent to other publications. Please include your name and email address to help us verify your submission (email address will not be published). Please be brief. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and to correct factual inaccuracies known to us. Send letters to le*****@*******es.sc
THE SUPERSUCKERS WITH HANGMEN AND ALVIE AND THE BREAKFAST PIGS With Eddie Spaghetti at the helm, the Supersuckers are an ever-present force of cowpunk rock nature, who have been driven to success by trailblazing record-company outcast Chris “The Mid-Fi Guy” Neal. The band is an oxymoron: the most famous band the mainstream has never heard of. And, once a Supersuckers fan, always a Supersuckers fan—as of 15 years ago, over 30,000 people were receiving Spaghetti’s E-newsletters. The outfit’s brand of alt-country meets punk earned them a spot as Steve Earle’s backing band on some of his best records, including his 1997 gem El Corazon. One thing about Spaghetti, who’s been the group’s one constant throughout the years: He’s dead serious about all of his music, even his 2003 hip-hop-flavored Motherfuckers Be Trippin’. It ain’t no farce. $18/$23 plus fees. Wednesday, May 3, 8pm. The Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. catalystclub.com
BROOKS NIELSEN Growlers frontman, Brooks Nielsen’s proudly full-length solo debut, One Match Left, is a twenty-song trip into darkness and toward the pinhead amount of light that eventually remains. “There’s happiness in there,” Nielsen says. “The bands that I like have a sense of humor, like Television Personalities or Jonathan Richman, but there’s a tragedy too. That’s the old theatrical tradition.” One Match Left showcases these attributes with self-aware swagger—Nielsen is a carnival barker, lullaby balladeer and rock and roll preacher, depending on the tune. The singer-songwriter’s first songs without his longtime Growlers bandmembers work well; it helps that he has some talented contributors, including Father John Misty guitarist Christopher Darley and songwriter Levi Prairie. $30/$34 plus fees. Wednesday, May 3, 8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton. feltonmusichall.com
MOLLY PRENTISS: ‘OLD FLAME’ Santa Cruz native Molly Prentiss, the author of Tuesday Nights in 1980, is returning for a reading and signing to celebrate her new novel, Old Flame, which explores what it means to be a daughter, friend, partner, lover and mother. Prentiss will be in conversation with radio host/producer and “Kitchen Sister” Nikki Silva, who is also Molly’s mom! Fun fact: Prentiss grew up in a commune. “It’s not as hippie or crazy as it sounds,” Prentiss insists. Her parents created it with friends in 1979, built all the homes themselves and have dinner together every night at 7pm—to this day. Free (registration required). Thursday, May 4, 7pm. Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. bookshopsantacruz.com
THE UGLY BOYS WITH DON CAPRICE AND DAYLIN XL Local indie alt-rap duo the Ugly Boys—Jacob Pfefferman and Sam Bortnick—are not bad-looking dudes. So, is the name supposed to be ironic? The Santa Cruz twosome would tell you they are ugly inside. Whether it’s all an act or the truth is in the eye of the beholder. From sixties-influenced psych rock to stony rapid-fire flows, the Ugly Boys are clearly inspired by the Beastie Boys. During Covid, they grew their social media presence with numerous TikTok videos that sparked a decent following, which continues to gain momentum. The Ugly Boys’ spirited stream merges a marriage of self-reflection peppered with fun pop culture references. Their amalgamation of West Coast hip-hop, electric beats and silky vocals produces candy for the ears. $15/$18 plus fees. Friday, May 5, 9pm. The Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. catalystclub.com
KEITH GREENINGER WITH THE COFFIS BROTHERS AND NINA GERBER Singer-songwriter Keith Greeninger’s music resonates deeply with his audience. This bond stems from his underlying philosophy that music is a gift and a “soulful medicine to connect us and take part in together.” His latest LP, Human Citizen, transpires as a “voice of welcome sanity above the challenges of the times we find ourselves in.” Greeninger has a way of highlighting and embracing our better selves without dividing or preaching. The musician embraces folk, rock, funk and even the Gil Scott Heron-type soul influences, employing horns and flute on several songs. Local fave the Coffis Brothers, whose energetic stage show mirrors the early Avett Brothers, continues improving with age. Since Nina Gerber’s accompaniment of Kate Wolf first earned her recognition, her skills as a performer, producer and arranger have continued to deepen. Her contributions to acoustic music have made her a following as loyal as the numerous high talents she has accompanied, proving the shadows equal to the spotlight in creating honest, powerful and beautiful music. $35/$50 plus fees. Saturday, May 6, 7:30pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. riotheatre.com
FANTASTIC NEGRITO White Jesus Black Problems is “an exhilarating ode to the power of family and the enduring resilience of our shared humanity.” Inspired by the illegal, interracial romance of Negrito’s seventh-generation grandparents—a white indentured servant and an enslaved Black man—in 1750s Virginia, the collection is bold and thought-provoking. While each track could stand on its own, its full audio and visual context yields a far more transcendent and immersive sensory experience that challenges our notions of who we are, where we come from and where we’re headed. (Negrito made a compelling companion film, too.) By now, much has been made of Negrito’s own unique story: growing up in a strict orthodox Muslim household, getting swindled by a major label and a near-fatal car crash that left his guitar-playing hand permanently damaged. There’s a happy ending to it all: In 2015, Negrito won the first-ever NPR Tiny Desk Contest and went on to win three consecutive Grammys for Best Contemporary Blues Album, tour with everyone from Sturgill Simpson to Chris Cornell and collaborate with the likes of Sting and E-40; he started his own label, Storefront Records and has performed at Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Newport Folk and every other major music festival. Additionally, he founded the Revolution Plantation, “an urban farm aimed at youth education and empowerment.” $26/$30 plus fees. Sunday, May 7, 8pm. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. moesalley.com
COMMUNITY
BOARDWALK PRIDE Show your pride and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community with giveaways, info booths (Santa Cruz Pride, Pajaro Valley Pride, Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the Diversity Center and Transfamilies of Santa Cruz County) and free entertainment, courtesy of ABBAFab. The ABBA tribute features some of the area’s most sensational talents! This multimedia production is a tribute to some of the greatest music produced in the 1970s and 1980s, including monster hits such as “Waterloo,” “Fernando,” “Honey Honey,” “Dancing Queen” and countless others. From ABBA’s earliest hits to Mamma Mia, ABBAFab will take you on an unmatched technicolor journey. Keep the party going at Cocoanut Grove with the first annual Santa Cruz Boardwalk Pride Afterparty, hosted by Sea Legends Rogue Roulette & Khloe Quarterpounder with DJ AyumiPlease giving up the beats. Free; $40-75/afterparty). Saturday, May 6, noon-6:30pm, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, 400 Beach St., Santa Cruz. beachboardwalk.com/pride
SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS MAKERS MARKET 10TH ANNIVERSARY “This market showcases the creative talent in our local community, and Hallcrest offers the perfect setting,” says Bree Karpavage, director of the SCM Makers Market. “Bring the whole family for a beautiful day of art and music in the redwoods.” The pet-friendly scene will include music by AJ Lee & Blue Summit and the vintage country duo Poi Rogers, with food truck Ate 3 One and local pulled pork master Kurt Zellerhoff. Fifty local artists will be featured at the event, including jewelry designer Rae Rodriguez (Boulder Creek), Bee Happy Today Clothing (Felton), Localife Flowers (Bonny Doon) and Love Cultivated Soaps (Ben Lomond). Free. Sunday, May 7, 10am-5pm. Hallcrest Vineyards, 379 Felton Empire Road, Felton. scmmakersmarket.com
Every child wonders what they’ll be when they grow up. For science illustrator Sami Chang, a dead shark lit the spark for her future career.
In seventh grade, Chang leapt at the opportunity to take a marine biology elective, mainly for the trip to the aquarium, she admits. But memories of her class’s beach clean-up are the ones that stick out to her today. Specifically, she remembers her fascination with a dead leopard shark washed up on the rocks.
“It was the first time I’d ever seen a wild shark,” says Chang. “I didn’t even know that there were sharks in the bay.”
Since then, her curiosity and careful eye for wildlife have guided her career. Chang is a marine biologist turned science illustrator. Through May 14, you can find her work proudly displayed in the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History’s annual spring exhibit, “The Art of Nature.” The program features 45 local artists whose work focuses on realistic depictions of nature. The month-long event continues the museum’s legacy of showcasing science illustration since 1989.
“Art is a wonderful way to get people interested in science and nature, and is a hugely powerful tool for communication and understanding,” says Liz Broughton, visitors services manager at the museum, in an email.
Chang couldn’t agree more. She went from scientist to science illustrator after earning a B.S. in marine biology with a minor in visual arts. Chang loved learning about the natural world and its creatures, but a research career didn’t excite her. Instead, she hoped to inspire others by drawing them into the overlooked wild world around her. So, she followed her heart.
Now, a big part of Chang’s job is to watch organisms—very, very carefully—and capture what she sees in impressive detail. She’ll always reach for her go-to watercolor and ink, but she also dabbles in colored pencil, graphite and digital illustration.
While most of her works feature tiny hermit crab clusters and other creatures from under the sea, she also delights in exploring above the surface, from carnivorous plants to the iconic banana slug. Regardless of her subject or medium, her work speaks for itself.
“We’re always impressed with the fine attention to detail she displays and the vibrancy with which she depicts species and ecological concepts,” Broughton says.
But it’s not just about painting pretty pictures. Chang hopes her work can inspire others’ curiosity too.
“The Art of Nature” marks Chang’s fourth time participating in the annual exhibit. This year, her work won’t just be hung on walls but will be brought to life. On May 13, she will guide attendees through the tiny curiosities of Santa Cruz’s tide pools, where they can try their hand at science illustration. The group will head down to Capitola’s coast at low tide to check out Chang’s favorite habitat: the intertidal zone, where the sea and shore meet. She expects to see vibrant sunburst anemones, hermit crabs, black turban snails, mussels and more.
Chang hopes the experience will bring people closer to the little details of Santa Cruz’s diverse ecosystems.
“Science illustration and field sketching allow us to pay attention a little bit more,” Chang says. “You just sit there and look. Over time you can see little changes that if you were to have walked past it, you wouldn’t have seen.”
Chang’s workshop is already full, but the museum hosts monthly classes in nature sketching and writing. The museum’s exhibit will have free admission for First Friday on May 7, where the public can check out the art and meet artists, including Chang.
“Every year, it’s an honor, and I love working with the museum,” Chang says. “I get to meet all these really cool other science illustrators. We can geek out together, and then we all learn something new.”
‘The Art of Nature’ runs through May 14, 10am-5pm; 5-8pm on First Friday at Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, 1305 E. Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz. $4; Free for members and 18 and under on First Friday;santacruzmuseum.org
Maybe you’ve heard: A mutated form of parasitic mushrooms called cordyceps is converting billions of humans into hyper-scary, hyper-athletic and hyper-contagious zombies.
They’re rampaging across the planet, devouring faces and spewing infectious spores.
That’s the fiction at the heart of The Last of Us, a smash hit series on HBO, which is built on scientific fact and then layered with creative liberties and a mass-panic apocalypse.
IRL, cordyceps actually do invade insect hosts after a spore lands on them and deploys its mycelia tendrils. Once the bug is paralyzed or dead, the fungus erupts out of the insect with a fruiting body (what most know as a mushroom), spreading its spores to other insects of the same species.
Like the show’s heroes, Joel and Ellie, Watsonville-based chef Dory Ford is one step ahead of the mushroom zombies, which keeps with a theme.
When he captained Monterey Bay Aquarium’s kitchens, he was ahead of the curve on smart and local sourcing before sustainability was a buzzword. When he moved on to school projects, he helped reinvent student nutrition. When he launched a catering juggernaut called Aqua Terra Culinary, he refined—and even redefined—how organic food, chic clients and limited food waste could harmonize.
Before millions of HBO viewers started Googling “cordyceps,” he was well into a fund-raising campaign to begin cultivating them while plunging into mycelium science lessons from other species (hence the name of his new farm-laboratory, MycoSci).
Like really helpful zombies, MycoSci’s living racks of cordyceps are alive (!) and continue growing in your fridge, so there isn’t the rapid eterioration that happens with harvested mushrooms. PHOTO: Mark C. Anderson
Ford laughs when he first learns that the mushroom he’s focused on became the demon protagonist of a deliriously popular show inspired by a video game.
“Yeah, we like to get ahead of the game,” he says.
MUSHROOM REVELATIONS
Mushrooms like the dark. So maybe this saga should start in a dark place.
When COVID brought its own sort of apocalypse, Ford was forced to close his restaurant and catering operation. The professional passion of his last three and a half decades went poof. It would be fair to say he fell into a zombie-like state.
“My entire business model—my entire life’s work—disappeared,” he says. “I was not well. What was I gonna do? I can’t sit at home and watch Netflix. I have ADHD; my leg bounces up and down.”
A psychedelic savior came into the picture organically. A loved one told Ford about 1) her hope to get off prescription antidepressants and 2) her curiosity in psilocybin-based treatments, i.e., the increasingly widespread (and increasingly legal) use of so-called magic mushrooms to relieve everything from anorexia nervosa to post-traumatic stress.
He offered to help and, after some successful therapeutic doses, went looking for more medicine.
COVID-related supply chain chaos, however, meant there was no psilocybin to be found easily. Ford ordered a grow box online and began experimenting with cultivation for personal use.
He deflects any notion of a “lightbulb moment”; instead, he simply applies his problem-solving skills. Still, that led to some lightbulb-like revelations.
“As a chef, you spend years dealing with something caught, killed, picked or cut,” he says. “By the time you get something, it’s at the end of its lifespan.”
His new task presented a different paradigm.
“When you get involved from a farming perspective, you’re creating life,” he says. “The instructions are a little different. You watch something grow, and you give them reverence.
“There’s enlightenment that came with that for me: ‘I’m OK with things.’ ‘I’m not going to crawl out of my skin.’ It allows you to carry on, to touch base with like-minded people, to find out you’re not alone.”
CORDYCEPS CHARM
Mycelium author, researcher, entrepreneur and author Paul Stamets likes to talk about how mushrooms can rescue the planet, which sounds hyperbolic but might be an undersell.
He writes and talks about how mycelium can decompose toxic and biological waste and prevent pests like ants and termites from destroying homes and crops. (Stamets has eight patents to prove it.)
He spotlights how it can convert cellulose into usable fuel and how it filters pathogens from polluted streams. He notes how it resists bacteria, which is why many antibiotics can be found in mushrooms. He observes how it can repair habitat post-natural disasters, perhaps on a Last of Us level.
“I love a challenge,” he says to start the TED Talk, “and saving the Earth is probably a good one.”
Last week, another TED Talk, “Could fungi actually be the key to humanity’s survival?” circulated on TED Recommends mailing lists.
“Maybe for the future, if we can learn from fungi,” says mushroom researcher and restaurateur David Andrew Quist, “we might be able to transform ourselves and our society in ways that are in greater harmony with nature.”
Mycelium growing on agar at the MycoSci farm-laboratory, one or two weeks after the agar was inoculated with a spore. PHOTO: Mark C. Anderson
The short answer, for Ford is, Hell yes, we can.
One way to get there is by way of taste buds and tummies. So far, this look at shroom superpowers doesn’t include their flavor flex. It’s a pause to salute all the healthy, tasty and umami-rich elements available from enoki and oyster, morel and maitake, shiitake and porcini and cremini. But not much is known about cordyceps’ taste profile, at least among most Americans.
That was a theme when Ford hosted his first public tasting event in three years at Elroy’s Fine Foods in Monterey last week, which featured live mushroom packs of cordyceps. According to Ford, some of the most common reactions are: “What is that?” “Can I touch it?” and “That’s delicious!”
“People left surprised and intrigued,” he adds.
The last reaction tracks back to the flavor front: What he prepared reflects cordyceps’ versatility and depth. (As do dishes from MycoSci partner chef Colin Moody, who’s crafted everything from cordyceps arancini to cordyceps maple ice cream with cordyceps streusel.)
On April 28, Ford sautéed the cordys for 30 seconds, then laid the brilliant orange against a soba noodle salad background of seasonal greens like kale, snap peas, asparagus, baby zucchini, green beans and scallions with a bit of radish, sweet corn for balance and a miso dressing—spiked with cordyceps powder.
“It does really well with all those Asian-leaning notes,” he says.
That makes sense: As opposed to most Westerners, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners—and eaters—know cordyceps well, partly because the fungi hail from the high mountains of China, where they grow wild on caterpillars. (MycoSci raises them on a proprietary—and sterilized—silkworm larvae substrate.)
Their historic applications include combating kidney disease, fatigue and dipping sex drive. Some studies have shown that they offer antioxidants, slow tumors, aid people with type 2 diabetes, soften the effects of arrhythmia heart conditions and slow down inflammation.
In my test run with MycoSci’s debut product—convenient snack packs of seasoned cordyceps—I felt more energized for an afternoon workout—anecdotal evidence, yes, but an experience that syncs with reports that cordyceps improve blood flow.
Interestingly, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has solid knowledge of the mushroom. It describes a range of specifics on its portal for holistic, alternative and medicinal methods (aka Whole Health).
“It is sometimes considered an adaptogen due to its immune-boosting properties … ” Whole Health reports. “Small studies have shown and can be beneficial in … renal damage for improving quality of life and cellular immunity after chemotherapy treatment, and for supporting liver function for those with hepatitis B.”
Cordyceps possess other charms. To start, they’re not a Schedule I controlled substance by the federal government (as is psilocybin). MycoSci stands ready to pivot at least in part toward medicinal psychedelics if and when regulations change— “When they catch up,” as Ford says—but for now, it’s the little-mushroom-that-could they’re focused on.
More good news: Cordyceps are relatively easy to grow and fetch a premium price of over $25/pound. The quality of what MycoSci is producing proves impressive enough that, pending negotiations, Far West Fungi is open to buying their entire supply.
The little Cheeto-looking fungi also catch the eye, which helps their visibility at independent grocers where MycoSci mushrooms are increasingly available.
In addition to Elroy’s, they appear at Far West’s spots in Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Ferry Building and Rainbow Grocery Cooperative in S.F. In MycoSci, Far West CEO Ian Garrone finds a fitting partner for what his family business wants to do.
“We’re always trying to bring in local, sustainable agriculture, especially with mushrooms, and not a lot of people are doing cordyceps,” he says, noting he sells 100 pounds a week, previously all from China. “It allows us to support local, provide more niche organic artisan mushrooms, get oxygen in your system—and it has great flavor, a little sweetness, something you can use in food and as a potent medicinal.”
MyoSci FUTURE
MycoSci’s one full-time employee is grow director Michael Bandy, who studied ecology and evolution at UCSC. He then started cultivating mushrooms in his basement before developing a full-send fungi farm in a 4,500-square-foot facility.
His main charge currently: scaling the cordyceps cultivation effort by tweaking light levels, substrate amounts and more. He’s looking at what he calls “a wide spectrum of potential nutrient ingredients,” all vegan—think nutritional yeast, spirulina and kelp, among many others.
The plan sounds good overall: working on optimizing life force with mindfulness.
“Operating and processing as efficiently as possible,” he says.
He’s audibly stoked by the challenge and is excited to apply his experience in extractions, tinctures and cultivation, using fancy tools like rotary evaporators and high-precision liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry usually reserved for the likes of pharmaceutical and forensic laboratories.
But as much as anything, he sounds most eager about advancing understanding of a range of shroom species, which gets at the big-picture thoughts running through the mycelium minds of Stamets and Ford.
MycoSci staff often hear the question, “What do I do with them?” Simple answer: Same as other mushrooms: Sauteé in butter or oil, bake in a tartine, sprinkle on a salad, eat them raw, etc. PHOTO: Mark C. Anderson
Bandy articulates a vision of elevating the food and supplement industry in the United States by using science to inform growing and extraction practices and product development, which sounds cutting edge but isn’t exactly. That was how many food systems worked before yield and timing took precedence over nutrition and quality.
“With our analytical tools, we can learn to grow our mushrooms in a way that will maximize beneficial compounds and nutritional density,” he says. “This is not new technology. It can—and should—be applied to our entire ag system.”
Put differently: Sleep peacefully, free of zombie-stalked nightmares, knowing the mushrooms will not create the next apocalypse.
