A growing network of Black mushroom enthusiasts, cultivators and researchers across the United States is contributing to the expanding field of mycology while exploring the cultural and historical connections between fungi and the African diaspora.Their work comes as interest in fungi has accelerated globally, driven by ecological research, culinary trends and the rise of citizen science.

Amateur researchers and independent cultivators have increasingly played a central role in identifying fungal species and documenting ecosystems, partly because professional mycology remains a relatively small scientific field.

Maria Pinto, a Jamaican American naturalist and writer based in Newton, Massachusetts, traces her fascination with fungi to an encounter in 2013 with an American yellow fly agaric mushroom while walking through nearby woods. The poisonous fungus, notable for its vivid yellow coloring and metallic sheen, immediately captured her attention.

“It forced me down on my knees to examine it further, because it didn’t look real,” Pinto said. “It looked like it was from another dimension.”

That experience eventually led Pinto deeper into mycology, the study of fungi, and toward researching the relationship between Black communities and fungal traditions throughout the Americas. In her recent book, Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival, Pinto documents Black mushroom growers, foragers and researchers working across North and South America and the Caribbean. Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival

Scientists estimate that Earth may contain roughly three million fungal species, though only a small percentage have been formally identified.

Fungi, which include mushrooms, molds and yeasts, were not formally recognized as a distinct biological kingdom until 1969, making the field comparatively young relative to other biological sciences.

Pinto said Black participants in mycology often remain geographically isolated despite growing interest in the field.“We exist, but in isolation around the country,” she said. “I think there are definitely efforts to mitigate that, or to actually get us together, but not a really concerted one.”

In Oregon, Elan Hagens has spent decades working with fungi through foraging, cultivation and education. Her interest began during childhood while attending environmental and nature-based programs in the Portland area.

Later, after appearing on the 2008 CBS reality television series Greatest American Dog, she learned that dogs could be trained to locate truffles, underground fungi valued in high-end cuisine.At the time, Oregon’s commercial truffle industry was still emerging. In 2011, Hagens founded temptresstruffles.com⁠, a company focused on truffle foraging and mushroom education. She later shifted from dog training toward workshops on mushroom cultivation and fungal identification.

One of her most memorable discoveries came in 2020 while walking beside a river in the Portland metropolitan area. She spotted a massive oyster mushroom growing high on a tree trunk.

“People were walking and jogging in front of me, and nobody is seeing this mushroom,” Hagens said. “It’s like the biggest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”After returning later with equipment to harvest it safely, she prepared the edible portions as potstickers.

Hagens has also organized guided mushroom walks aimed at introducing Black, Indigenous and other underrepresented communities to fungal ecology.

During one event in Oregon, participants encountered sulphur tuft mushrooms, known for faint bioluminescent properties and their ability to glow under ultraviolet light.

“That’s something that people love to see, because it’s more than just: ‘Oh, that’s a poisonous mushroom,’ or: ‘That’s an edible mushroom,’” Hagens said. “It’s something that makes them think outside the box.”

Hagens frequently collaborates with William Padilla-Brown, a Pennsylvania-based ecological researcher and fungi cultivator who has become a prominent figure in independent mycology education in the United States.

Padilla-Brown founded mycofest.net⁠ in 2015 as an annual festival focused on ecology, fungi research and public education. Held in central Pennsylvania, the event combines scientific presentations, guided foraging walks, workshops and fungal identification services using DNA testing technology.

“I don’t even know that many Black mycologists,” Padilla-Brown said. “I’m just waiting for more folks to show up for real.”The 2026 edition of MycoFest is scheduled to take place from July 31 to August 2 at Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary.

The same year he launched the festival, Padilla-Brown established mycosymbiotics.com⁠, a business focused on cultivating fungi such as cordyceps and producing mushroom extracts.

Largely self-taught through books and mentorships, Padilla-Brown said his interest in fungi began during adolescence after experimenting with psychedelic mushrooms.At 17, he was arrested on cannabis-related charges. After becoming a parent several years later, he redirected his interests into legal mushroom cultivation and educational work.

His business now includes mushroom farming, workshops and fungal product development. He recently completed a documentary on truffle culture and helped establish the mycosymbiotics.com⁠, an agricultural cooperative supporting fungi producers.

Padilla-Brown also received a two-year grant worth $26,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture to study the potential for cultivating native truffles in the northeastern United States.

Much of his recent work has focused on preserving fungal biodiversity through cultivation and storage techniques.

“I’ll be freezing them all in the final preservation here to preserve sensitive organisms into the future,” Padilla-Brown said. “I just want to hold on to them. It’s like a modern Noah’s ark kind of vibe.”

For Pinto, fungi also provide a framework for understanding cultural continuity and survival across the African diaspora. In her writing, she traces linguistic and culinary links connecting Black communities and mushrooms, including the Jamaican patois term “junjo” for fungus and “djon djon,” the name for prized edible black mushrooms used in Haitian cuisine.

She also references the Butiko clan in Uganda, whose symbolism and oral traditions incorporate mushrooms.These discoveries, Pinto said, challenged assumptions that mushrooms held little significance within Black cultural histories.

“The more I learn about the ancient origins and tantalizing futurity of fungi, about their centrality to healthy ecosystems and their adaptability, about their potential for earthly and mental remediation, the more I’ve realized that my kinship lines feel more mycelial than tree-like,” she wrote in the introduction to her book.

“Like fungi, the stuff I’m made of has the power to move in darkness, to thrive undetected, to quietly work until such a time as there’s nothing left to do but fruit.”

In the densely populated informal settlements of Mumbai, a local waste-for-food initiative led by 27-year-old social entrepreneur Shakti Yadav is combining environmental cleanup efforts with food distribution in communities affected by poor sanitation and limited access to nutrition.

Yadav, founder of the “Buy Food with Plastic” initiative, operates a system in which residents exchange discarded plastic bottles for prepared meals. According to the programme’s operating model, 20 plastic bottles are accepted in return for one hot meal.The initiative, launched in 2020, has so far distributed more than 42,000 meals, supported approximately 4,500 people and conducted sustainability awareness activities involving over 1,000 students, according to figures cited in the report.

Yadav said the project was shaped by his own experience growing up in a Mumbai slum, where seasonal flooding and poor waste management created recurring public health risks.“During the monsoons, sewage water would flood the streets,” he said. “People had to wade through it because discarded plastic choked the drains.”

According to Yadav, blocked drainage systems contributed to repeated outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue and malaria, in vulnerable neighbourhoods. His initiative was designed to address what he described as two interconnected urban challenges: unmanaged plastic waste and food insecurity.The programme operates through a circular collection and redistribution model.

Plastic bottles collected from participating residents are transferred to recycling facilities, where some workers are recruited from the same communities supplying the waste. The recycled material is then repurposed into products including flowerpots and tea coasters, which are later sold to companies, including international corporations.

Mumbai, India’s financial capital and one of the country’s most densely populated cities, generates thousands of tonnes of municipal solid waste daily. Plastic waste management has remained a major challenge for urban authorities, particularly during monsoon periods when clogged drainage infrastructure increases flood risks in low-income settlements.

Yadav said the project was inspired by a similar initiative operating in the United States. He contacted the founder of that programme and developed his own local adaptation focused on conditions in Mumbai’s informal settlements.An MBA graduate and the first member of his family to pursue higher education, Yadav initially managed the project while working in a corporate job.

He later left full-time employment to focus entirely on expanding the initiative.The transition initially faced resistance within his family. According to the report, Yadav’s mother questioned the sustainability of non-profit work and believed such efforts were generally undertaken by financially secure individuals or organizations.Yadav said he eventually persuaded her by demonstrating how the programme could simultaneously reduce waste accumulation and improve food access in underserved communities.

The meals distributed through the initiative are intended to support residents in slum areas where access to affordable and nutritious food remains inconsistent. By linking food distribution with waste collection, the programme also attempts to incentivize recycling participation among residents who may otherwise lack formal waste disposal options.

Environmental awareness has become another component of the initiative’s outreach strategy. Yadav and his team regularly visit schools and residential communities to conduct educational sessions focused on sustainability and waste disposal practices.“Previously, nobody told me that throwing plastic away was harmful,” Yadav said, describing the lack of environmental education during his childhood.

The awareness campaigns target younger audiences in particular, with organizers seeking to promote behavioural changes related to littering, recycling and environmental responsibility.The initiative’s visibility has expanded beyond Mumbai in recent years. According to the report, Yadav represented India in Germany during a programme focused on sustainability and climate change research.

He was also awarded the 2023 Cross-Cultural Program Fellowship.The project currently operates in selected slum clusters across Mumbai, although Yadav said he intends to expand its reach across additional parts of the city.Urban policy experts have increasingly emphasized the relationship between waste management, flooding and public health risks in Indian metropolitan regions.

During annual monsoon periods, low-income settlements often experience disproportionate exposure to waterlogging and sanitation failures due to inadequate drainage systems and high concentrations of unmanaged waste.

Plastic waste has become a central issue in municipal governance discussions across India, particularly after several state governments introduced restrictions on single-use plastics and expanded recycling regulations in recent years. Enforcement and waste segregation, however, remain inconsistent across many urban districts.

Programmes such as “Buy Food with Plastic” operate outside formal municipal systems but increasingly form part of localized efforts aimed at combining environmental management with social welfare objectives.The initiative also reflects a growing trend among younger social entrepreneurs in India seeking hybrid solutions that combine recycling, employment generation and food distribution.

By connecting waste collection with direct community incentives, such models attempt to address both environmental and economic pressures simultaneously.Yadav said his long-term objective remains focused on improving conditions within communities similar to the one where he was raised.

“My goal is to eradicate both plastic waste and hunger,” he said.