Chef Sebastian Carosi has foraged for a variety
of wild mushrooms, including blonde morels.
Continued from Page 6
Carosi admitted that having a felony
on his record made his rise in the culinary
scene a challenge. He tried to hide his
past after his release while struggling with
depression, fear and PTSD from being
locked up at a young age.
“I didn’t have a way to treat it, I ended
up smoking cannabis fl ower while I was
working in high profi le jobs,” he said.
“I got fi red from several of those jobs
because I smelled like cannabis.”
To heal, he focused his energy on living
a healthy lifestyle and eating natural foods
from the earth, a foundation that became
the pillar to his culinary philosophy.
Decades later, his work in the farm-to-
fork scene led to an opportunity to con-
tribute recipes for the “Fantastic Fungi
Community Cookbook,” a collaborative
cookbook that features recipes from doz-
ens of the brightest minds in the wild fungi
community. The cookbook, written and
edited by Eugenia Bone, will be released
on Nov. 23.
To celebrate, Carosi is hosting a
themed event on the Long Beach Penin-
sula, a place he calls the “unoffi cial wild
mushroom capital of the United States.”
The three-day wild mushroom sym-
posium takes place Friday through Sun-
day. Dubbed the PNW Puhpowee, it will
be fi lled with educational speakers, for-
agers, experts and enthusiasts. The all-in-
clusive event will take small groups out
on immersive experiences to forage for
wild fungi, which they then will bring
to a roundtable with experts for identifi -
cation. Wild fungi dishes will be served,
amongst a slate of speakers and documen-
tary screenings.
But the PNW Puhpowee, won’t be a
strictly culinary experience. Much of the
event will be centered around the contro-
versial topic of psilocybin mushrooms.
Carosi credits the psychedelic fungi
The poster for the PNW Puhpowee features
an image of Long Beach mushroom queen,
Veronica Williams.
for managing his mental health symp-
toms through a micro-dosing routine. He
described the North Coast as a hotbed for
the mushroom’s wild growth.
“If you’re into physical health, what
about mental health?” posed Carosi.
“You can eat as good as possible, but
if your mental health isn’t good, your
body is deteriorating faster than you can
imagine.”
Parts of the Pacifi c Northwest have
recently experienced changes in the law
that legally allow the use of psilocybin in
some situations.
Carosi believes the country is about to
experience a psilocybin revolution, which
is why he wants to share information
about wild psilocybin at his symposium.
He’s quick to add that the workshops will
solely focus on their therapeutic benefi ts.
“We’re not throwing a party, there’s no
concert, no anything, this is completely
educational and that’s the way we want to
keep it,” said Carosi, who added that the
summit will stay within the confi nes of
the law, as no samples will be handed to
guests. Guests will however learn where
they naturally grow in the area.
Carosi is capping attendance off at less
than 100 people and says he is organiz-
ing the foraging trips into small groups to
minimize the impact on the natural land.
“I want to take the elitism out of this,
and let people know that therapeutic
mushrooms are sitting right beside the
culinary mushrooms,” he said. “If you just
spend a little bit of time learning about
them, you might help yourself. I believe
another bit of therapy is getting out there
and fi nding them, the hunt. The being out
in the wilderness. You have to hunt for
them, they’re not just there.”
The cover of the ‘Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook.’
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 // 7