#272 Mighty Mushrooms. The Culinary and Medicinal World of Fungi with Prof Tim Spector, Tom Baxter and Dr Ester Gaya

Episode guests

I conduct research on the diversity and evolution of fungi, especially Ascomycota, and I focus on processes of speciation and phenotypic evolution using lichenised fungi as a case study. I am currently co-Principal Investigator of a project that explores the hyperdiversity of extremotolerant fungal symbioses, in partnership with the Institute of Plant Sciences, at University of Graz (Austria). My other main interests are methods testing using an empirical approach: phylogenetics, phylogenomics, dating events, ancestral character state reconstructions. My specialties include taxonomy and systematics of Teloschistales (Ascomycota).

I am currently coordinating the fungal module of the new MSc course in Plant and Fungal Taxonomy, Diversity and Conservation, in partnership with Queen Mary University of London.

TIM SPECTOR, MD, is Professor of Epidemiology at King’s College London. He is the bestselling author of The Diet Myth, Spoon-Fed and Food for Life and co- founder of ZOE, the science and nutrition company. With a focus on cutting-edge science and honoured with an OBE for his impactful work in fighting Covid-19, Tim stands at the forefront of his field. The original pioneer of microbiome research, he is among the top 100 most cited scientists in the world. 

Tim started cooking at a young age, enjoying his mother Juno’s lasagne at home and learning to cook Wiener schnitzel and apple strudel as a teenager working in an Austrian kitchen (all of which have inspired recipes in this book). 

It was only when he had a mini stroke in his fifties that he was inspired to improve his own health outcomes by focusing his scientific research on the groundbreaking area of nutrition and the gut microbiome. 

He then set about applying his cutting-edge scientific findings in his own kitchen. Tim’s wife Veronique and his children have, at times, been alarmed by the growing family of (sometimes explosive) ferments in their kitchen and fridge, but are increasingly impressed by his enthusiasm and creativity in the kitchen. They have even been known to ask for seconds and leftovers of ‘Juno’s lasagne’. Tim lives in London with his wife.

Ever conscious of the unfolding ecological collapse that confronts us, Tom chose to make the fateful move away from city chatter to find meaning through working the land in 2008.

After a few educational years establishing his organic vegetable farm and following 2 decades of largely unsuccessful excursions foraging for mushrooms, from the foothills of the pyrenees to the siberian steppes, Tom experienced a revelation during a mushroom cultivation course he attended in 2018.

In 2019 he downed tools on the farm and invested all he had into creating The Bristol Fungarium, producing the UK’s first organic certified medicinal mushrooms.