Грибы , (pronounced greeb-i) or mushrooms, are a popular food worldwide. Some like them in salad, some in pasta. I personally love them on pizza. But in Russia, these neat little fungi really are fun guys; in Russia, mushroom hunting is a common recreational activity and pastime! In fact, many cities have entire trains that run specifically for mushroom hunters to be taken to various hunting grounds early in the morning. In the late summer-fall season, when mushrooms first arrive, some organizations plan bus trips to the best of these grounds to collect for trading purposes. Hunters are provided with a knife and a basket and set off to do their thing.

As a result of this activity being so widespread, it is said that the average Russian can identify more mushrooms than an actual mushroom-hunting hobbyist from the States. There are around 250 varieties of mushroom that grow in Russia and of them, most Russians can recognize at least a quarter.  Anything they can’t recognize or that might be poisonous is flagged поганка (paganka), or the “foul”/ “filthy” one. Some of the extremely poisonous ones have unique names, like мухомор (mukhamor) or “fly killer”, which usually refers to something the likes of the mushrooms from Mario.

There are wild mushrooms available at public marketplaces for non-hunting folk but buying these is not recommended because you can’t verify how carefully they were selected. Also interesting to note is the ways these mushrooms are consumed. They are usually dried сушёные (sushyoniye), marinated маринованные (mareenovanniye), or salted солёные (salyoniye). How it’s prepared is decided based on what sort of mushroom it is. Whatever you do, don’t eat ‘em raw, and do not put them in dessert.

 While not every Russian person does hunt mushrooms, there is a general consensus with regards to which are best. Actually, there’s a kind of cast system for mushrooms discerning which are most desirable, the most common of which I’ve listed below.


1.белый гриб, боровик (byeliye greeb, baraveek) –Sometimes eaten fresh, though it’s said to taste better dry. "If you're gonna learn one name, learn this one!" - Russian textbook

2. груздь (gruzd) – Requires presoaking; eaten salted only.

3. рыжик (rijheek) – Eaten marinated, salted or fried.

4. подберёзовик (padbyeryozaveek) – Mostly eaten fresh or dried; can be marinated.

5. подосиновик (padaseenaveek  )- Prepared all ways!

6. маслёнок (maslyonak) –Slimy cap needs to be removed before preparing. Eaten all ways but best are young, marinated ones.

7. опёнок (apyonak) – Eaten fresh, marinated and salted.

8. сыроежка (sirayeshka) – You can eat these guys raw without dying! It’s best to boil all mushrooms before eating, though.

9. лисичка (leeseechka) – Called the “humble” mushroom; pick if you can’t find anything else

10. моховик (makhaveek) – Eaten fresh, dried, marinated or salted but if it’s worse than the humble mushroom, maybe these should be avoided