Twenty years ago, when Peter Wenzel went to parties, his small talk of choice was often met with glazed stares. As owner of the Canberra-based company Fungi Co, Peter loves mushrooms, and he's pleased to say it's a conversation that now goes down much better with strangers.
"Now there are movies about fungi; people are interested in their culinary value, ecological uses, medicinal value, and the benefits of microdosing to treat anxiety," Peter tells Region.
Fungi Co was founded in the late 90s as a small commercial business operating from a simple polytunnel. After a few years on the back burner, Peter reinvigorated the industry a decade ago.
Peter now uses Victorian train tunnels in the Southern Highlands to grow unique and exotic mushrooms for chefs, grocers and the general public, as well as making educational products for school-aged kids from kindergarten to year 10. If you think that abandoned train tunnels are an odd place to build a business, the mushrooms think otherwise.
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