One tends to notice people who try hard not to be noticed. Cops are trained in this regard, with respect to e.g. drug-dealers. In France, such persons include, not only criminals of various kinds, also mushroom-hunters.
One may glimpse them, near a forest usually, trying their best to look anything but … mushroom hunters. Why? They want the location they have discovered on their own not to become public knowledge.
Often, they are on the look for cèpes, i.e., porcini mushrooms. To identify such persons is easy : they tend to look as if on a walk, a bit detached or even furtive and they carry a container of sorts — not a basket, it would be too obvious —, often a plastic bag.
Why all that rigmarole? They are concerned about being followed to a spot in the woods only they know, the place they have discovered where these mushrooms grow. Keeping it secret might ensure only they get access to these most prized wild mushrooms.
The Latin name of the species, edulis, simply means ‘edible’ (a cognate). What makes cèpes so special, so much prized? Their taste, of course, once cooked. They owe their aroma — and their taste, to some extent — to unsaturated alcohols and ketones wiith eight carbon atoms.
Oftentimes, cèpes are dried for preservation, which does not alter much their outstanding flavor.
How to prepare them? There are a few different ways: by themselves, as a fricassée, sauteed with a little butter or olive oil, some shallots and a little garlic; or in an omelette.
One ought to be careful in picking them in the wild: there are many toxic mushrooms there, some deadly. When I was a child, in Grenoble, prior to the opening of the open-air market on Place aux Herbes, mushroom inspectors would critically examine the offerings. And that is still probably the case throughout France.
As an alternative, French people bring wild mushrooms they have picked for scrutiny and approval by their pharmacist.
I’ll close with another personal recollection. In the 1990s, I accompanied Paul Parraud, the commanding officer (a general) of the École polytechnique, to La Courtine, the military training camp for the entering class of polytechniciens. They would undergo military training there. This huge camp is located in Central France, in the Creuse département.
We went there by helicopter, flying about 300 m (1,000 ft) high; quite a sight: the French countryside is sprinkled with small castles, often concealed behind a small wood.
The connection with cèpes? The general was fond of them. He had requested, in advance of his visit, that a bunch be picked for him; and indeed he left with a hefty load of those yummy delicacies.