What is the public image of fungi?

And how can we improve it....

Fungi perhaps have a bad public image (this picture is created with leonardo.ai and it is frustrating that every prompt with fungi invariably leads to mushrooms)

What is the first thing you think about when you hear ‘fungi’? Is it the mold on your bread or in your apartment? Is it medical conditions? Is it mushrooms? Magic mushrooms or food? Is it yeast, and with it, beer and wine? Is it rather positive or rather negative?

I think for most people, outside of my academic bubble, it is a negative image of fungi that prevails. I do remember in recent years several articles in top journals, saying ‘Wait a minute, but there are also positive fungi out there!’; mostly as a reaction to prominent articles that just focused on the fungal pathogens. This negative image can stem from a number of things, mostly perhaps our own experience with fungi, in terms of fungal disease, maybe toxic mushrooms, spoiled food, mold in our apartment, perhaps also the connection with drug use (magic mushrooms). Maybe it is the association with rotting and decomposition. Perhaps it is horror movies (The Last of Us).

Or has this recently been changing? The book ‘Entangled life’ by Merlin Sheldrake has been very successful and perhaps this is a sign that the tide is turning? If you know of any studies on this, I would be very interested. It is also possible that this is distinctly more Western view, perhaps in Asian countries or elsewhere in the world the image is much more positive or much more neutral at least; I don’t know.

If it is true that the public image of fungi is predominantly negative, which I believe, should we worry about it? I think we should. I think it undermines the value we place in this group of organisms, carrying out important ecosystem functions, like nutrient cycling, soil aggregation, being symbionts with many plants and animals, and even their role as pathogens is important in ecosystems, of course. We should protect fungi and this becomes more difficult if they are not really appreciated.

So I believe it is worth propagating a positive image of fungi for these reasons alone. But how can we do it? It seems the basic reason for this negative image of fungi is likely ignorance. People just don’t know about fungi. Maybe there is not even a connection between the mold in your wall and a mushroom you pick in the forest for many people, or the yeast responsible for the fermentation in the beer you drink. I am pretty sure for most people these are all separate things.

In my fungal biology MSc course this week, students came up with quite a number of cool ideas how basic info about fungi could be spread: cookbooks, info material in supermarkets or in underground trains, games, and more. (Thanks also to the students for some of the points that have found their way into the text above)

Let’s do it! What are your ideas to make fungi better known and appreciated (in a positive way) in the general public? Let me know in the comments.