Jilber Barutçiyan is one of the few mycologists in Turkey and the world, with a passion for mushrooms that has turned from curiosity to hobby, from hobby to expertise.

He is also the author of 'Turkey's Mushrooms I' and 'microdose mushrooms', in which he extensively examines 350 mushroom species.

We talked to Barutçiyan, who continues his studies as a trainer, to get to know the unique world of the mushroom world.

How did your interest in mushrooms begin?

I have had an interest in nature since childhood. Whether it's fish, sea, flowers, insects, I moved to Switzerland in my 20s.

Mushrooms first caught my attention here. As if it was a national sport, immediately after the rains, the children and everyone were going to pick mushrooms.

I followed them, saying, 'I'll learn one or two mushrooms, we'll eat them'.

It was a curiosity before it was a hobby. Over time it turned into a hobby. There is the new, the expensive, the delicious, but besides these, there are those that kill, there are those that poison. Mushrooms don't have a school either.

'Let me go to a university, become a mycologist-fungiologist.' You don't have a chance in the world. Today, no university in the world has a chair of fungicide-mycology. We have people from every horizon among us.

There is also a medical doctor, a carpenter, a forester, a biologist… Mushroom starts with curiosity and becomes a hobby. If you develop it, it turns into a passion. Like fishing, like hunting… People have such passions.

I walked on the mushroom issue, I made progress. You join clubs, courses and start reading books. In fact, walking in nature is the only way to learn about mushrooms.

As far as I know, you are continuing as an instructor at the moment.

There is an organization called VAPKO (Swiss Mushroom Experts Organization) under the Swiss Ministry of Health. Mushroom specialist.

To protect public health or to consider traded mushrooms. They issue certificates. After dealing with mushrooms for 20 years, they took me to this organization's pre-exam group.

I have a mushroom specialist diploma from the Swiss Ministry of Health.

You have 25 years of work…

It really isn't easy. It's not like 'I got this job'. The subject is very broad and complex. I got this diploma to test my knowledge.

In those years, my preparations for returning to Turkey had begun. After returning to the country, after the first rains, when I went to Belgrad Forest, not far, I was in for a big surprise.

All of the most valuable mushrooms that I could not find in Europe for 25-30 years were in front of me.