Mushroom feasts

In the warmer south-east, there are a few villages around a forest that is very rich in all kinds of mushrooms. People from these settlements call it "the Mushroom forest" or "the Forest of feasts". Some villagers are very wise when it comes to fungi, thanks to the long time that this tradition has been going on. The wise ones can precisely identify every mushroom growing in the forest and tell if it's edible or not.

The Feast

Every time it rains, the people wait exactly three days and then the feast can begin! The whole village prepares wicker baskets, carts, bags, pockets, basically anything where they can put the mushrooms, and they head to the forest. Thanks to the rain and also patience while waiting, the fungi are big and there are a lot of them. Even though there's no hurry, no competition - they are all friends, a big family - seeing one after another makes you want to collect as much as possible.

"Let's get pickin' those shrooms!"

The feast lasts all day, from the sunrise until the moment it begins to get dark. It is in everyone's best interest to collect as much as possible because it won't rain for a while again and the mushrooms are their main food source. Nevertheless, the majority will not push it after the sun sets just to have more to eat.

Risk isn't worth it

Created using wombo by Itvoadan

Even though they all know how dangerous it is to get too carried away with the picking, there are still every year a few cases of unlucky ones. Exactly what happens to these people is left unclear, but it is usually caused by wondering too far into the forest, or staying in the Mushroom forest after the darkness comes, or both combined, which is the worst case. These souls of bad luck are lost forever and have never came back. People of the villages believe that when you get too deep into the forest, and you are isolated, a small mushroom gremlins start to appear. At first glance, they seem like an ordinary mushroom, but when you bow down to pick them up, they run away, leading you even deeper into the unexplored parts of the forest. You are already going crazy at this point, so it is really hard, almost impossible to resist them as you lack of willpower and clear mind. No one knows how they end up, but they never return. Maybe they turn into mushroom gremlins. Maybe they are tortured and killed. Maybe there is a secret, hidden land in the depths of the forest where they live happily. Maybe they have returned, just the people didn't notice. Who knows?

The next day

After having a great sleep thanks to working the entire day, they wake up to the next part of this feast. The mushrooms are sorted in huge quantities, leaving the weird fishy ones for the wise to decide and recognize, and separating the rest. As they mostly use them sliced and not as a whole, the following is to cut them into smaller pieces. Then the hunks are split into different sections such as drying, pickling, frying, boiling or mashing - some are made ready to eat, some preserved for later use. This part takes about another three days to finish, after which they are finally set for the rough future and ready to celebrate and party.

The party

The celebrations begin as soon as they're done with the work. No matter if it's day or night, no matter the weather or anything else, no waiting for another day. And even though the party rises for a bit before reaching the top, it gets pretty crazy quite fast. And it often ends up in starting at night. Fire crackles, lanterns flicker, lukewarm breeze flows through the crowd. People sing, play music and dance to it. Children run around and play. Adults chat with friends over some high quality alcohol. But mostly, everybody eats. They eat a lot! And about that alcohol, of course it is made from mushrooms but more importantly it is quite weak and has more healing and health-strengthening effects than the usual alcohol ones. A special event taking part during the feast is a bit weird race of the fathers. Each father gets their wife on their back and children wrap around their legs.

The race can start!

As not all the children get to be the weights, the youngest one with the help of the oldest one is the "referee". The child starts the race in whichever manner, (they are often so young that anything can do) and then it is just whoever gets first, but also last to the finish line. Nevertheless you are not allowed to cheat the last place, i.e. you can't go intentionally slow to be the last.
You could expect the fathers try to have as light family members as possible, but that doesn't happen. The feast is meant to strenghten them, get them prepared for worse times and also to honour their ancestors and the ones that passed. Not having eaten enough would mean death in the worst parts of year.

Different mushroom food and beverage

When I say that they make everything out of mushrooms (when the harvest is rich) it is NOT an understatement. They literally make every single food or drink you can think of from mushrooms.

A traveller stops by an old friend that moved into a village near the Forest of feasts

"Wait what? You make even the flour and beer out of mushrooms? That is crazy! I don't believe that it could possibly taste good."

"Well, yes we do. The bread from mushroom flour is a local speciality, it has a very crunchy crust, and it tastes earthy, savoury and slightly sour."

"Okay, maybe I do wanna taste it..."

"And wait for the beer. That is my favourite! You definitely have to try it too."

"I mean, it is unique to this region. It is almost a must to try it."

"You know what? My wife has actually just made one loaf of bread this morning, it is very fresh. Wait here for a moment, I'll get you a few slices with pâté and a cup of beer from the cellar."

"Mushroom pâté?" wonders confused as his mate leaves

Of course the taste will be different every time deppending on the type of mushroom but in general here are some of the most common foods and beverages and how they are prepared:

Type	Preparation
Mushroom bread	Cut, dry and crush the mushrooms. Than use the "mushroom flour" while baking a bread. You can add a bit of vinegar and fresh mushrooms into the mix.
Mushroom beer	Put cut or mashed mushrooms into a pot with some water and sugar. Boil it. Than transfer it into an air-tight container and add yeast. After that, just wait for as much as you want. Differently aged beers taste different.
Mushroom pâté	Fry a bit, then boil and mash the mushrooms. That's the base done. Then you can add whatever comes to mind. Try adding for example some herbs, mashed bread, onions, sherry or berries, goat cheese,... Here are some tasty meals with it: mushroom pâté with starberrieson a thick loaf of bread, simple pâté added into a stew or a salad, pâté with creamy cheese; sweetened by juice from berries - common childrens breakfast
?????	I'll add more later

They also make all the obvious ones that you'd expect to be made from mushrooms, I just felt like adding only the special/weird ones ._.

Region
South-east of the mainland
Area
Villages around the Forest of feasts
Age (how long it exists)
First mentions are dated about 1600 years ago

Everything that you'd need

The Mushroom forest or Forest of feasts is truly rich in mushrooms. There are edible and nutritious ones. Other ones are for medical use. Some are poisonous and are used for poisons or even to kill, though that is very rare. You can scarcely find some hallucinogenic ones for some wonderful times.