Chef caught red-handed: picking mushrooms is not allowed
A ranger in the Schoorl dunes saw a man wandering through the dunes off the path. He spoke to him and then discovered that this nature lover was carrying a large bag of mushrooms. The end result: a hefty fine, and handing over that delicious treasure.
A chef at a restaurant in Den Helder was walking through the Schoorl dunes at the weekend, a coastal nature reserve near Alkmaar. Not simply to enjoy nature, no: he stuffed his pockets full of porcini, an edible mushroom that apparently grows in the woods near Schoorl. What a stroke of luck! But the laughter stopped when he was approached by a ranger. Foraging in the wild is prohibited, and the chef was fined for poaching. And worst of all: he had to hand over the mushrooms.
Two kilos
The chef said he wanted to use the mushrooms in dishes at his restaurant. He had already picked more than two kilos of porcini. Unfortunately, picking them for commercial purposes – which is what it is when you use those mushrooms in your restaurant – is strictly prohibited. By picking the mushrooms, the overenthusiastic chef also disrupted the ecosystem in the nature reserve. Small animals use the mushrooms as a food source.
Back to nature
De Duinstreek, the local newspaper in Schoorl, reports that this quantity of mushrooms is worth at least two hundred euros. The ranger returned the confiscated mushrooms to nature.
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Source: De Duinstreek
