Funny how when one hears the international news reverberate with stories of nuclear weaponisation in North Korea, the only mushrooms one thinks of are the mushroom clouds attendant to nuclear blasts.
However, the humble shroom has become one of the first casualties in the pre-nuclear fall-out that has enveloped that closed country.
Economic embargoes on matsutake mushrooms by Japan are set to hit the Korean exporters hard and also the Japanese foodies who adore the prized mushroom.
The Japanese ban on all imports from the communist state after its reported nuclear test in mid-October will mean no more shipments of the rare mushrooms, popular in Japan where their fragrance is a symbol of the coming of autumn.
