#984 Mushroom Magic transcript 🍄🍄🍄

00:09-00:46                                         [scenery, mountains, sky, hills, village]

VO- In the mountains bordering Tibet, life has a simplicity and serenity that to an outsider seems close to idyllic. There’s wheat to thresh, cows to milk, and yaks to walk. But for the villagers of Darchen, life through the centuries has always been a struggle to make ends meet. That was until locals discovered the gold in their hills, and the Japanese were prepared to pay big bucks for it.

00:51-01:34                                         [mushrooms, examining and trading]

VO- The locals call these songrong, but to the Japanese, they are Matsutake, the king of fungus. Aromatic, and said to contain anti-cancer properties, they’re the Guccis of the mushroom world. And in a Tokyo restaurant, a small plate can sell for 500 dollars or more.

                                                                VO woman- So how much would this one be worth?

                                                                Man- Okay, maximum a time, this one Matsutake can cost 300 or 400 in yen. One Matsutake.

                                                                VO woman-  This is 60 dollars!

01:40-02:23                                         [town: sorting, buying, and selling mushrooms]

VO- The town of Zhongdian is south west China’s mushroom capital. It’s a market where prices are dictated entirely by Japanese demand, with fluctuations sometimes by the minute.

Mr Chen: South Korea exported too many Matsutake mushrooms to Japan so the price now is dropping continuously every day. Yesterday’s purchasing price equals today’s selling price. It’s very hard doing business.

                                                                VO- Everyone is in on the action, even the local Buddhist monks. But when the sensitive question of cashing in on mushrooms arises, there’s a sudden memory lapse.

                                                                Monk: I don’t understand you.

                                                                Off camera:  He’s Tibetan, he doesn’t understand Chinese.

                                                                Other off camera: So he doesn’t speak Chinese?

                                                                Off camera: No.

02:40-03:20                                         [warehouse, packing mushrooms in boxes]

VO- But if anyone understands the trade, it’s rising mushroom mogul Mr Jiao. It’s nearly midnight, yet he and his workers are hard at it, preparing the mushrooms for their morning flight to Kunming and then onto Tokyo.

Mr Zhao: Each box holds four smaller boxes and we collect both high and low quality mushrooms. So if we add them all up, they could be worth nearly two thousand Australian dollars.

                                                                VO- For many others in these parts, mushrooms aren’t just a business. They’re a life line.

03:24-04:25                                         [mushroom pickers in mountains; dig up mushrooms]

VO- Every day during the three month mushroom season, Tibetans Jorma, Lamu, and Dhinju climb high above their village to an altitude of nearly 4000 metres in search of the magic Matsutakes.

Zhouma: Life is quite harsh in these parts. Since the grain yields are low, without the mushroom harvest, life would be very poor. But since we started collecting mushrooms, our lives have changed. Now life is pretty good.

                                                                VO- As I discovered, gathering them is delicate work. Like truffles, they’re hidden beneath the surface. Any damage in the picking process could shave dollars off the price.

                                                                Lamu: If it’s a good year I can make more than two thousand dollars. Otherwise we earn a thousand or more.

04:35-05:32                                         [in home, kitchen; roadside mushroom traders at bottom of mountain]

VO- Thanks to the mushrooms, Jorma earns five times the average rural income. But she always worries the now plentiful supply will one day dry up.

Zhouma: I am very concerned. If the Matsutake mushroom supply runs out, our lives would revert back to the way things were in the 1960s. We wouldn’t be able to afford a house to live in nor any fine rice to eat.

VO- To catch the end of season rush, wholesalers set up a roadside market, snaring the pickers as they come down the mountain on their way home. With my share of the day’s loot, I’m after the best price. But initial enquiries tell me my mushrooms may not quite be export quality.

Jane: They’re all no good?

Buyer: Yeah, they’re all off.

Jane: All off? Come on, two dollars is too little.

Buyer: There’s not a good one in the whole bunch.

Jane: Who, who’s going to give me three dollars for these?

Man: Two dollars!

Off camera: Three, I’ll give you three!

Jane: Three, he’s going to give me three. How about four.

Man: Yeah, four, make it four.

06:15-06:37                                         [restaurant, traditional dancers; cooking the mushrooms; plate of Matsutake mushrooms]

VO- And after all the excitement, but confirmation I will never make a salesperson, there’s nothing like a nice meal to cap off the day. These of course are the cheap cast offs at twenty dollars a plate. And how do they taste? Like mushrooms!