An old tradition finds new life as Germans flock to forests to collect mushrooms

POTSDAM, Germany (AP) — Wolfgang Bivour carefully emptied a basket of freshly collected mushrooms onto a forest floor covered with fallen autumn leaves. Brown-capped porcini and bay boletes lay beside slimy purple brittlegills and honey-colored armillaria — and, among them, the lethal green death caps.

Bivour, one of Germany's most famous fungi connoisseurs, described the different species just collected in an oak and beech forest on the outskirts of Potsdam in eastern Germany. Surrounding him were 20 people who listened attentively, among them university students, retirees and a Chinese couple with their 5-year-old daughter.

Across Germany, the traditional forest art of mushroom hunting is enjoying a revival, fed by the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, which pushed people from cramped apartments into forests, and by the growing popularity of the vegan lifestyle. A growing interest in the use of medicinal fungi is also playing a role.

While people in rural areas have gone mushroom picking for ages, city dwellers are now also discovering its joys.

Mushroom hunting was a necessity for many Germans in the difficult years after World War II, when people scoured forests for anything edible. But when West Germany's economy started booming in the 1950s, and economic conditions also improved in East Germany, many turned away from the practice.

In recent years, images of mushrooms have gone viral on social media, and a hobby once considered uncool has become a chic lifestyle pastime.

Bivour, a 75-year-old retired meteorologist, said the tour he led on a recent, drizzly autumn day wasn't “primarily about filling your basket — although it’s always nice to find something for the dinner table.”

Instead, he said, it was “about teaching people about the importance of mushrooms in the ecosystem and, of course, about biodiversity.”

Bivour is sometimes sought out by hospitals when they have cases of suspected mushroom poisonings.

He has also been giving mushroom tours in the Potsdam region southwest of Berlin for more than five decades.

When the members of his group showed him mushrooms, he identified them with their German and sometimes their Latin names. He spoke about their healing powers or toxicity, gave suggestions on how to prepare some of them, offered historical anecdotes. He invited them to smell and taste the ones that were not poisonous.

Karin Flegel, the managing director of Urania, a Potsdam institution that organizes Bivour's tours, said his classes are filling up instantly.

“We’ve noticed a huge increase in interest in mushrooms,” she said.

Bivour said he, too, had noticed the surge of interest in his longtime hobby. He began sharing his best finds on Instagram and Facebook, has written books on the subject, and even hosts a popular podcast, the Pilz-Podcast. Pilz is the German word for mushroom.

Many people are embracing their new passion with caution, afraid of accidentally picking and eating poisonous mushrooms.

While the poisonous red-capped, white-dotted fly agaric can be easily identified, the very toxic green death cap is sometimes confused with the common button mushroom, or champignon, which is the most widely sold mushroom in stores across the country.

Each year, several people die after eating death caps, often immigrants from the Middle East who are not familiar with the local mushroom varieties.

Tim Köster, a 25-year-old university student from Berlin who joined the excursion with his girlfriend, said he had never foraged for mushrooms as a child, and is often satisfied with the white button mushrooms in the stores. But he also wants to be able to find and prepare his own porcini mushrooms — considered the most popular delicacy among Germany’s more than 14,000 different kinds of mushrooms.

While porcini are often served in risotto or pasta in Italian cuisine, in Germany porcini, as well as bay boletes, are often fried in butter and eaten on toasted sourdough bread with salt and pepper.

As Köster stood amid an abundance of yellow and red fall foliage, he said that the tour was a good start. But asked if he was ready to start collecting mushrooms on his own, he said: “I don’t dare yet.”

Instead, he said he considers picking mushrooms and taking them to an expert to verify that they are edible. Experts often offer their knowledge on fall weekends at markets or community colleges where people can bring their bounty and make sure they haven't accidentally pick poisonous pieces.

Margit Reimann, a 42-year-old who participated in the tour with her mother, said she was surprised to learn how many edible mushroom varieties there are.

But despite her newly acquired knowledge, she plans to stick to the familiar ones — porcini, butter mushrooms, slippery jacks and bay boletes — when going out to the woods with her kids. During the excursion she learned that colors and grain patterns can't always be clearly determined.

“I think that if enjoyed in moderation, many of them would be a culinary experience, but I still don’t trust myself," she said.

A mushroom hunter picks mushrooms in a forest in Potsdam, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Mushroom hunters and pickers move through a forest looking for mushrooms in Potsdam, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Wolfgang Bivour 75, a mushroom hunting tour leader, instructs mushroom pickers on how to hunt mushrooms in a forest in Potsdam, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Mushroom hunters collect mushrooms in a forest in Potsdam, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A basket of mushrooms lies on the ground in a forest in Potsdam, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Firefighters in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Sunday finally extinguished a blaze at a multistory shopping plaza after a nearly 24-hour-long effort. The fire left six people dead, including a firefighter, and dozens missing, officials said.

The fire broke out late Saturday at Gul Plaza, and spread rapidly through shops stocked with cosmetics, garments and plastic goods, according to Dr. Abid Jalal Sheikh, the city’s chief rescue officer.

The fire has been put out and now a search for dozens of missing people is underway, said Murad Ali Shah, the chief minister in the Sindh province of which Karachi is the capital. Earlier, authorities had said crews needed another four to six hours to bring the blaze fully under control.

Five bodies were recovered from the four-story building and its basement, which housed about 1,200 shops, Sheikh said. Rescue officials said a firefighter died while trying to extinguish flames on the upper floors. Meanwhile, families continued searching for missing relatives.

Television footage showed dozens of firefighters in protective gear as thick smoke billowed from the damaged building. Parts of the structure collapsed during the fire.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, and an investigation will follow.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sorrow over the deaths and ordered authorities to use all available resources to prevent further losses.

Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, has a history of deadly fires, often blamed on poor safety standards and illegal construction. In November 2023, a fire at a shopping mall in the city killed 10 people and injured 22 others.

Firefighters gather beside a collapsed portion of a multi-story shopping mall following a massive fire that broke out overnight, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ali Raza)

Firefighters examine a collapsed portion of a multi-story shopping mall following a massive fire that broke out overnight, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Farooq)

Firefighters pour water to control a massive fire that was broke out in a multi-story shopping mall overnight, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Farooq)

Firefighters try to control a massive fire that was broke out in a multi-story shopping mall in overnight, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Farooq)

People gather as firefighters try to control a massive fire that broke out in a multi-story shopping mall, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Farooq)

People gather as firefighters try to control a massive fire that broke out in a multi-story shopping mall, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Farooq)