How to cook a mushroom soup

Edited by Joshua Owen

We might think that the Zone is really far, but it is really near to us.

"Грыбны суп з сушанымі баравікамі – смаката. Асабліва пасярод марознай зімы мяне радуе талерка з гарачым грыбным супам. Смачнейшым за такі суп, могуць быць хіба што смажаныя грыбы з бульбай і цыбуляй. Каб выбіраць паміж талеркай з супам і талеркай са смажанымі грыбамі, выбраў бы смажаныя, і вось чаму... У дзяцінстве з койданаўскімі хлопцамі я пайшоў у грыбы. У лесе мы прабадзяліся цэлы дзень. Ніхто ніякіх грыбоў не знайшоў, акрамя мяне. Пашанцавала. Мне трапіўся адзін баравік і тры сыраежкі. З тым баравіком я і вярнуўся позна ўвечары.

"Mushroom soup with dried boletus is so tasty, especially in the midst of frosty winter. I'm so happy to see the plate filled with hot mushroom soup. Tastier than the soup can only be, I guess, fried mushrooms with potatoes and onions. If I had to choose between a plate of soup and a plate of fried mushrooms, I'd most likely choose the fried version. This is why – when I was a kid, together with the Kójdanaŭ boys we went to pick up mushrooms in the forest. We spent all day there and nobody found any mushrooms except from me – I got lucky.

I am boiling mushrooms for my soup.

The city of Pripyat is surrounded by a series of closed cities, Charnobyl NPP was the first atomic power station built in the territory of Ukraine. In northern Belarus, Russia has invested $10 billion into building the Astraviec NPP. The whole production chain of the Belarusian NPP, including producing, supplying and dealing with radioactive waste, is handled by Rosatom.

Even the Italian baroness Bona Sforza, who owned the lands of the Belarusian Paliessie, said it had great potential. When lands later became part of the Russian Empire, Joseph Zhilinsky was working on a land development plan by building a network of reclamation channels to drain the soil and make it fit for agricultural use.

Radioactive rain, 40 minute downpour. The radiation from the Charnobyl explosion spreads around the globe.

Iodine time-machine shows the extended time of radiation decay through gradual iodine-starch reaction. The pattern of drops corresponds to the pattern of precipitation in the months subsequent to the Charnobyl explosion.

It is expected that it will take 300 years for all the elements that were released during the catastrophe to decay. This estimate is based on the decay time of Caesium-137. Because of the radioactive fallout, Caesium-137 and other elements were released around Belarus.

The discovery of radiation helped unlock the deep time of present and future. Little islands of sand with trees and mushrooms. 

Many species are adapting to the radiation, like the various fungi found growing inside the Charnobyl reactor which now use radiosynthesis to provide the energy they need to grow and thrive. Mushrooms are known to accumulate radiation. Different mushrooms soak up radiation differently.

I am making Baršč with the mushrooms. I add nettle, hogweed and wild carrot.

The 30km exclusion zone was established by Soviet armed forces in 1986. 26km of the zone is situated in Belarus and is called Palieski dziaržaŭny radyjacyjna-ekalahičny zapaviednik. Nature has recovered to the same levels as it was before humans started to inhabit these territories. My family has a house there.

After the Charnobyl catastrophe in 1986, a 10-square- km pine forest next to the station turned orange following the absorption of high levels of radiation. It was decided to cut the trees down and bury them under the ground. Because of that, a major contamination of the underground water happened.

I wash the mushrooms and clear them from moss and soil.

Once you have picked mushrooms you normally sort them by kind – ‘baraviki’ or ‘bely hrib’ (Boletus edulis); ‘mahavik’ or ‘polski hrib’ (Xerocomus); ‘padasinavik’ (Leccinum aurantiacum); ‘lisički’ (Cantharellus); ‘apienki’ (Armillaria); syraežki (Russula). After sorting the mushrooms you need to put them in hot water to soak. It is now a tradition that is passed from generation to generation, but I did not realise it was connected to radiation. I always thought we did this to help eliminate any poisonous mushrooms that may have been picked.

I am peeling the potatoes. The potatoes accumulated starch.

One of the first elements released after the explosion was radioactive isotope Iodine-131. It acts through topping up a lack of healthy iodine in the body. Iodine is vital for all living species.

I was walking on the dirty riverbank, but the river seems so clear. I saw fungi that I couldn’t otherwise see.

The quiet hunt with your rybička in pocket – good size. You can make a basket out of paper or bag out of old jeans and walk around spreading spores. Of course forests were cut down in the UK and around Bremen. Now there are fields growing monoculture for human and animal food, oil. Forest Hill is not so foresty anymore, but sometimes it feels like countryside.

I am chopping cabbage into my soup, but I can’t eat the core.