In article >,
"modom (palindrome guy)" > wrote:

> Finnish forests harbor 500 varieties of edible fungi! Info he
> http://www.eatandjoy.com/?p=245
>
> The same site offers a "Manifesto for the New Nordic Kitchen" and a
> word for reindeer meat, poro, which the Finns hope will convince
> non-Finns to eat Donder and Blitzen.
> --
>
> modom

As long as they don't drink Donner and Blitzen's urine:

http://www.iamshaman.com/amanita/strangefacts.htm

"Reindeer go crazy for fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria), which the
Lapp people traditionally used for its hallucinogenic effects.
Lapp shamans used to eat the mushroom during the midwinter pagan
ceremonies of Annual Renewal. The first effect of eating it was a deep
coma-like slumber. When the shamans woke the drug stimulated their
muscular systems, so that a small effort produced spectacular results -
the intoxicated person perhaps making a gigantic leap to clear the
smallest obstacle. The effect on animals was generally the same, and a
mushroom-maddened super-reindeer traditionally guarded each shaman. When
missionaries first reached Santa's native Lapland, they found a thriving
pagan myth of reindeer flight. Rather than oppose it, they shrewdly
assimilated the stories into the folklore of Christmas and Saint
Nicholas. This then, is the true origin of the legend of Santa's flying
sleigh. The colour scheme of his outfit is taken from the unmistakable
red and white cap of the fungus. Lapps still scatter the mushroom in the
snow to round up reindeer. Incidentally, the urine of people who eat the
mushroom contains substantial quantities of the isoxazole derivatives
that produce the intoxicating effect. Impoverished Lapps knew this, and
collected round the huts of rich Lapps who indulged in the mushroom at
Christmas parties. When their overlords came out to relieve themselves
in the snow, the serfs collected the urine to drink. When they, in turn,
urinated in the snow, the reindeer fought to utilise what remained of
the mushroom's intoxicating effects. There is a fairly comprehensive
study of fly agaric and its effects in Mushrooms, Poisons and Panacea by
Denis R. Benjamin (ISBN 0 7167 2649 1). More on this at:
http://www.psms.org"
--
Peace! Om

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive." -- Dalai Lama