3 squiggly worms mushroom

Logging Off

Celine Nguyen

The idea of foraging is still a kooky hippie thing to you, but the more you read, the more appealing it becomes. At the very least it has a nice narrative trajectory. The What did you find today? thread is full of stories that begin with uncertainty, plunge into disappointment (I found NOTHING for the first hour!), and end triumphantly with a high-resolution picture of someone’s haul. Lightly moralistic statements are common — More people should forage! It’s the most sustainable way to eat — as well as complaints about tasteless supermarket berries and Big Ag.

Eventually you start thinking about a foraging trip. There is a national park near you that seems promising: a stretch of shore next to a forest, laced with hiking trails and gentle slopes. According to the park website, visitors can gather two gallons plus one mushroom per day. On a Foraging 101 thread, a forum user writes: If it’s your first time, pick an easy mushroom, something reliable to ID and reasonably common. But you’re not sure which one to look for.

What if you made an account and asked for advice?

A small stick of bamboo

Celine Nguyen is a designer, design historian, and writer. She is an MA student in History of Design at the V&A Museum/Royal College of Art, where her research considers contemporary web aesthetics and their relationship to our ecological world. Right now, she wants to know: what does degrowth look like for the web?