Long Litt Woon
Mushroom Forager

“The way Through the Woods: Of Mushrooms and Mourning” is a part memoir, part quirky foraging guide that has resonated with people across the globe. Long Litt Woon is an anthropologist originally from Malaysia who has spent her adult life living in Norway with her husband Eiolf. In the summer of 2010, their 32 year-long life together came to a sudden end and she was left heartbroken. Her book, published in 2019, documents her rediscovery of happiness in a rather unlikely place; the woods.

I THINK FOR NON-MUSHROOMERS, THE IDEA OF A MUSHROOM SOCIETY MAY INVOLVE PEOPLE SIMPLY GOING OUT AND FORAGING FOR MUSHROOMS. THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT MORE TO IT THAN THAT?

Yes, there are now activities all year round. Or at least we aim to have activities available the whole year and not just in mushrooming and wild edible season, which is in the springtime. So, during the winter we will have cooking classes with dried mushrooms or have mushroom movies. There are lots of things you can do with mushrooms. For example, knitting is very popular here so there is a group of women that use mushrooms as a natural dye for wool or silk on linen. There’s this whole array of things you can do with mushrooms, but I won’t get into it now.

DO YOU THINK THERE IS A GENDER IMBALANCE PRESENT IN OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES OVER THERE?

I mean, in Norway people are very outdoorsy as I’m sure you can imagine. There are many types of activities that families do together, so if there is a gender imbalance in the outdoors, I haven’t seen it. I don’t know the numbers but if you’re interested then there are statistics on everything here. But in terms of the Mushroom Society, I’d say there are definitely a lot more women and very few men. 

It’s funny because in many areas, like restaurant businesses and things, I find the guys are the ones with the big degrees and expert Mycologists – not always but quite often there is a little imbalance of power. However, since I’ve been involved, from 2011 or 2012, there were always a lot of women mushrooming. It was mostly older women with the odd man here and there, but they were all older. The first meeting I went too, you know I’m 62 so that was 10 years ago, I was the ‘young person’. I felt like I’d walked into some pensioners club or something! This has changed very quickly as the whole business of mushrooming has developed. In Oslo, where the majority of our society members are from, there has been a big change where we see people getting younger and the gender balancing. It feels more equal.

WHY DO YOU THINK THAT CHANGE COULD BE?

I think there are many reasons for it, but one of the primary reasons is because of food. It has become a lot more trendy to forage for food, not just mushrooms but also for wild plants. We have this whole Nordic Cuisine which started about 20 years ago in Copenhagen I think, but it’s been redefined and modernised by places like the Noma restaurant. I think that with movements like this, about foraging for wild food and serving it at fancy restaurants, it has created this huge business. Suddenly there’s a new crowd of people fascinated in slow food and growing or picking your own food. I certainly think it is all linked to the new cuisine trends.

As you cannot cultivate, grow or pick this stuff all year round it is certainly very seasonal. In a lot of ways, the society has been rejuvenated. I’m not just talking about a wider age group, but with more courses available we seem to be attracting more people. For example, teaching how to make gin with things you’ve picked has brought all the guys in. All thanks to new activities, new members and older, passive members are suddenly more active.

IN YOUR BOOK I READ THAT YOU DIDN’T CONSIDER YOURSELF OUTDOORSY GROWING UP IN MALAYSIA, WHEN DO YOU THINK THAT CHANGED?

Definitely, and even though I lived in Norway for so many years I wouldn’t say that we really went out much. My husband wasn’t into it, although he was Norwegian, so it was only because he died that I came across the society. Becoming outdoorsy came with the mushrooms. I went out to look for mushrooms and in doing so it saved me.

[She had tried Yoga, meditation, grief classes, anything anyone could suggest to help with her sorrow. During a bereavement group therapy session somebody mentioned this mushrooming course as a form of relief. In the past, she and Eiolf had considered this course on mushrooms for beginners’, taught by the Greater Oslo Fungi and Useful Plant Society, so decided to give it a go. In her book, she recalls how the name of the society initially sounded like a sister organisation to the Norwegian Women’s Hygiene Association… but she was desperate and had a mild interest in mushrooms.]

Seasons are completely different in Malaysia though, because they have the tropics so things come and go very quickly. There’s a completely different energy; they don’t really have amateur mushroom organisations like we have here. There are people who are interested but they’re all at the universities studying mycology in labs, researching foraged cells from different mushrooms. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO PEOPLE WHO AREN’T SO EXPERIENCED IN OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES BUT WOULD LIKE TO GIVE IT A GO?

Ideally, find someone who is enthusiastic about being outside, or who really likes to go out for whatever reason, to take you. It’s not something you should do on your own if you’ve never tried before. But it can be for any reason, whether its mushrooms or moss, flowers or photography, or even just someone who enjoys being outside. It is much safer to go with someone.

After her first visit to Norway as a young exchange student, Woon met and married Eiolf. Her life was turned upside down with the unexpected death of her husband at the age of 54. The pain of her loss was all that was left of him. Mushrooms became her lifeline where, out in the moss-covered woodlands, she discovered the invisible world of unruly logic and wayward vitality. Her book is many things; a memoir, field guide, recipe book and novel that tells the raw reality of grieving a lost love. She is now a Norwegian Mycological Association certified mushroom professional. According to Chinese naming tradition, ‘Long’ is her surname and ‘Litt Woon’ is her first name. ‘The Way Through the Woods’ was awarded the most translated non-fiction book from Norway in 2018, which has now been translated into 16 editions.