DIANE KOCHILAS: Mushrooms, mysterious, delicious, and therapeutic.

They have beguiled human beings for eons.

They are indeed the ultimate flavor of longevity.

In this episode, I explore mushrooms in the kitchen and in health, speaking with one of the world's most renowned experts, Dr.

Andrew Weil.

DR.

ANDREW WEIL: Mushrooms are very highly regarded as remedies.

DIANE: And cooking up a mushroom feast that includes a succulent mushroom gyro.

This is really amazing.

A braised chickpea and mushroom medley.

This, to me, is a dish that represents the evolution of tradition.

And a creamy mixed mushroom dish with one of Athens' best chefs.

That's unbelievable.

Join me on My Greek Table as we discover why mushrooms are not just a culinary delight, but a cornerstone of the Mediterranean longevity diet.

[Greek music over opening title].

ANNOUNCER: My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas is made possible in part by: The Fillo Factory.

Grecian Delight/Kronos.

A family committed to better eating.

The National Hellenic Society, and by the following... DIANE: Mushrooms have enchanted Greeks for millennia.

Ancient chroniclers like Theophrastos marveled at the mysterious appearance of mushrooms, springing up overnight after the rain, with no roots, no flowers, no leaves.

He called them rootless plants and set the stage for centuries of curiosity.

Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, was the first to recognize mushrooms for their healing powers, using them to soothe inflammation and treat wounds.

Today, modern science confirms what the ancients intuited.

Mushrooms are a true flavor of longevity.

They're packed with unique antioxidants like ergothioneine, sometimes called the longevity vitamin, which helps protect our cells from aging and cognitive decline.

Nutritionally, mushrooms are low in calories and fat, yet high in fiber, B vitamins, and vitamin D. They promote gut health, and their regular consumption is linked to reduced inflammation and even a lower risk of neurodegenerative diseases, making them a cornerstone of the longevity diet.

On the Blue Zone island of Ikaria and throughout Greece, foraging for wild mushrooms is a holistic practice that blends gentle exercise, mindful walking, and communal gathering, echoing the ancient Greek ethos of living in harmony with the land.

I'm very honored to be talking to my incredible guest today, Dr.

Andrew Weil, who is the founder of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona and a very well-known writer, and researcher, and physician.

Thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed.

DR.

WEIL: My pleasure.

DIANE: I know that you've done a lot of research on mushrooms as, as, from you know, a health perspective.

So I guess my first question is what got you interested in mushrooms to begin with?

[chuckles] DR.

WEIL: Uh, I grew up in a row house in Philadelphia, Diane, which had a very tiny plot of grass in front of it, and I was quite disconnected from nature.

My mother was deathly afraid of mushrooms.

Because of that, I got very interested in mushrooms.

[Diane laughs] And I didn't really have a chance to explore mushrooms until uh sometime in the 1970s.

I lived for a while in western Oregon, and I got to meet mushroom foragers and go out mushroom hunting with them.

Around the same time in the 1970s, I began studying traditional Chinese medicine.

I was struck by the fact that in that system, mushrooms are very highly regarded as remedies, that their superior remedies were a lot of mushrooms.

I'm happy to say that now, you know, in the past 10 years, there's been a lot of research interest in these properties.

And what's I think especially interesting is that many of the species that are so highly valued in Asian medicine are completely non-toxic.

And they also have properties for which we really don't have equivalent drugs in Western medicine, things like enhancing immunity, building resistance to infections of all sorts, increasing resistance to cancer.

[Melodic guitar music].

DIANE: I'm making a mushroom version of the most iconic Greek recipe, export, which is gyro.

[Music continues].

Those are the cones of stacked meat, usually chicken or pork or beef, sometimes lamb, that are sold in almost every Greek place all over the world.

And it's also one of the things that lends itself perfectly to being remade with mushrooms.

So what I'm doing here is I've got two different types of mushrooms here.

I've got oyster mushrooms and I've got portobellos.

I'm just pulling the mushrooms apart, the oyster mushrooms, so that I get kind of the approximate size and eventual texture of the gyro meat.

And this is just a slightly, let's say, healthier version and a version that is made for, um, anyone who doesn't want to eat meat.

You could also do this with button mushrooms.

You could do it with morels come to mind.

You want to do this with fresh mushrooms, not with dried mushrooms.

I also have portobello mushrooms here.

These are also, um, there's a lot of great texture in a portobello mushroom.

We don't want the stems for the gyro.

We want to approximate the sort of size and concept of a slice.

So just gently snap the stem off like that.

You can save this for another use.

They're great in soup.

And then we, basically, just want to cut the portobello into slices.

Think of a gyro.

Think of what the shavings look like.

So that's what we're trying to do here.

Get kind of the same size.

So we just want some slices.

[Chopping].

These are going to cook and lose a little bit of volume.

The next thing I'm going to do is make a marinade for the mushrooms.

And I've got all my ingredients right here.

A little sea salt and pepper.

Then Greek oregano.

Petimezi, which is grape molasses.

It's one of my favorite ingredients.

It adds a very nice um underlying sweetness to this.

Um, very grape-y.

Very, almost like a, imagine like a reduced wine.

That's kind of what it tastes like.

And a little bit of a secret ingredient for me, which is a bit of soy sauce.

Dijon mustard and garlic powder.

[Upbeat guitar music].

And the oyster mushrooms.

These are all going to be mixed with the marinade.

In my marinade, I have extra virgin Greek olive oil, of course.

A little garlic powder, a little Dijon mustard.

A little soy sauce, a little petimezi.

Greek oregano, Greek earth.

A little sea salt and a little black pepper.

These aren't going to be very wet, it's really just to get a little of this flavor infused into the mushrooms.

[Whisking].

On the marinade, too, a little red wine would be nice in here, even a little balsamic vinegar.

[Taps whisk].

This is going into the mushrooms next.

[Scraping and sound of bowl] And you can see this isn't very, very wet.

I'm going to mix this by hand.

It's better.

It's easier.

You know, these are the oldest tools in the world, right?

I didn't add, you know, cups and cups of marinade in here.

It's really just to get a little flavor on them.

So this is what we're looking for on the mushrooms, basically just a coating of that marinade.

I'm going to set these aside to sit for about 15 minutes and get going on the sauce.

For the sauce, we want Greek yogurt, beautiful, thick Greek yogurt, a little extra virgin Greek olive oil, just a touch.

Some salt, a little black pepper, garlic.

Finely chopped dill.

You can also use mint in here.

You can use parsley.

And I'm just going to get this mixed together.

It's very, very simple.

Okay, this is ready.

[Clanking of grill pan].

All right, I am about to make My Greek Table special mushroom gyro, a little olive oil in the grill pan.

And you get some of these beauties in here, the portobellos, nice and nice thick slices, and those oyster mushrooms, both of which are very meaty.

[Sizzling].

You can do this on the grill at home, on the barbecue.

You can even do it under the broiler if you want.

You just want to get a nice kind of smoky sizzle going on this.

The bread's up next, so a little olive oil for those pita rounds that I have right here.

And we want to warm this up a little bit because it will be easier to fold.

[More sizzling].

Okay, let's flip the bread.

Let's just see how soft this has gotten.

No, this is almost ready.

We're not looking for color.

We're just looking to warm it up so that it's nice and soft and easy to roll.

The mushrooms are pretty much done.

And I'm about to assemble My Greek Table special mushroom gyro for you.

So there's a little trick to this.

You always want to have parchment paper and aluminum foil.

A little bit of my yogurt sauce goes in here, some of this lovely seared mushroom deliciousness.

And then a couple of tomato slices, some raw onion, very important, and cayenne pepper.

But that's a matter of personal taste.

You can do paprika in here, or you can do cayenne, which is what I've got here.

Rolling in the first half, and then this is the real secret, a little twist there on the bottom.

And that is My Greek Table special mushroom gyro.

Mmmmm.

This is really amazing.

It tastes just like a gyro, except it's a lot healthier, a lot lighter.

The best thing about it is that the mushrooms are really succulent, definitely as good as the best meaty Greek gyro out there.

Mmm... DIANE: In your, in your research, have you studied the correlation between mushrooms and cognitive health as one ages, and Alzheimer's dementia?

DR.

WEIL: Well, you know, there's one particular species, Lion's Mane, and this has been studied for its nerve nourishing properties.

And there is some good data that this protects cognitive function.

And that's the main one that I think that I would look to for that.

DIANE: Any other mushrooms?

I mean.... DR.

WEIL: Yeah, you know, are you familiar with reishi?

This is the one, this is a woody one, that you have to take as an extract.

That's a very powerful anti-inflammatory agent.

It's got a reputation for enhancing longevity in China and Japan.

The oyster mushrooms, there are various forms of them.

You know, these lower cholesterol, uh, they have these immune benefits.

And then there's a whole range of these mushrooms, shiitake, enoki, all of them, that really, I think, significantly protect against cancer.

There is a compound in the button mushroom that, uh, may have protective effects against breast cancers.

There's a famous mushroom called cordyceps, medicinal mushroom.

This is the one that parasitizes caterpillar larvae.

It's cultivated in Tibet and Mongolia.

And it's now cultivated on grain, and very good data about it enhancing pulmonary function.

Athletes use it to increase endurance.

It is used in Asian medicine to give stamina to people who are recovering from illness, or injury, or debility.

Very useful one to know about.

DIANE: And what about mushrooms and, and other sources of plant protein?

Like, for example, I have a mushroom and chickpea recipe in this episode.

DR.

WEIL: Mmm-hmmm.

I'd like to see that.

I mean, that sounds fine.

I mean, as I say... [clears throat].

You can get very good protein from mushrooms or mushrooms combined with other things.

DIANE: I'm making a really nice mushroom and chickpea stew that speaks volumes about synergy, the synergy between traditional Greek recipes and more contemporary ones, but also the synergy between beans and mushrooms.

[Bright music].

So I'm just getting started here with a little bit of extra virgin Greek olive oil.

I want to make sure the oil is hot enough for the onions.

I've got a medium red onion, finely chopped here.

This is going in.

This is our start.

This is a recipe inspired by something I sampled in sort of one of the hot restaurants in Athens these days, where traditional cuisine meets contemporary perspectives on dining and, and cooking.

And there's a lot of global things going on here.

So I've got mushrooms that we can find in Greece, like portobello and crimini.

But I've also got enoki mushrooms here and some different sauces.

I've got soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and a little petimezi because that's very traditional Greek.

So the onions are nice and soft.

I want to be careful not to get too much color on them.

And I'm about to stir in the chopped garlic.

[Oil popping].

Keep it moving.

Keep stirring.

And the next thing to go in here is the tomato paste.

That addition is a very traditional technique.

I just lowered the heat on this a little bit.

I'm getting the other tasks at hand here, which is finishing up the mushrooms.

These are crimini.

So the crimini I'm just going to halve.

And the portobello, I've done most of the slicing already.

You want to get about, you know, about a half inch of a slice out of the caps.

And I like to keep the stem intact.

And I like to keep the gills there too.

I actually find them quite pleasant on the palate.

So I'm just going to cut this into thickish slices.

[Chopping].

Portobellos are all ready.

The tomato paste is nice and jammy.

Time to start getting everything in the pot.

The portobellos go in first because they will take the longest to cook.

So this will lose a lot of volume as it cooks.

The fact that there are different mushrooms in here, makes this even more nutritionally dense.

They're packed with vitamins and minerals.

They're packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.

Let me just get this stirred up.

The enoki mushrooms go in next.

Very dainty.

And they're going to cook up and give a very different texture to this as well.

And as soon as the mushrooms cook down, we'll add the chickpeas, which have already been cooked.

I'm going to get the rest of the seasonings in here in a second.

A little bit of soy sauce, the vinegar.

The petimezi.

This combination of traditional Greek, traditional Japanese, and good old red wine vinegar makes for a global Greek recipe, which is what I'm doing right now.

That's very healthy, very flavorful, and very easy.

Little bit of salt, a little bit of black pepper.

I'm just going to cover this.

Let them cook down a little bit.

Give it a stir.

And grab the last herb that I want in this dish, which is a little bit of fresh oregano.

[Lid clanking].

A little fresh oregano makes pretty much anything taste better.

These have lost a little bit of their volume.

I'm using good-quality canned chickpeas in this recipe.

Nice and easy.

Mix everything together.

Beautiful.

The vegetable stock goes in next.

Now the mushrooms will let out their own moisture, so we don't want this to be too wet, just enough to keep it juicy.

All the herbs go in next.

A couple of bay leaves.

Some nice fresh thyme sprigs and rosemary.

And fresh oregano in whole sprigs right on top.

So I'm just going to let this cook until everything is nice and tender.

[Lid clanking].

This has been cooking for about 45 minutes, and it looks to me like the perfect example of a combination of Greek and Asian ingredients, those enoki mushrooms.

So let me get some of the tough dried herbs out of here.

The chickpeas and the portobellos it looks really great.

And those cremini.

Okay.

I am looking really forward to tasting this little Mediterrasian mushroom magic medley.

Mmmm.

It does literally taste like the whole earth is in this bowl.

The chickpeas are perfect.

They're super tender.

The mushrooms have retained their meaty texture.

All of the flavors beautifully melded together in here.

All the herbal flavors, I get the, I get the rosemary, I get the thyme.

I get that almost um smoky flavor from the bay leaves, the oregano, and the beautiful liquids that work together really well.

The soy sauce, the vinegar, and the petimezi.

In a great example of Mediterrasian harmony, um, new Greek cooking that harkens back to very traditional Greek cooking, just with the use of a few new ingredients like the enoki mushrooms and the soy sauce.

This, to me, is a dish that represents the evolution of tradition and also the incredible use of mushrooms in a beautiful synergy together with chickpeas.

What about the combination of mushrooms and other food?

I know, for example, it's a big trend in nutrition circles and in you know, cooking circles too, if you're trying to wean yourself off meat to start to replace portions of meat with mushrooms, like a burger that's made.

I actually did a recipe like that.

A burger that's, you know, half of it is ground mushroom and half of it is ground meat.

DR.

WEIL: I'm all for that, Diane, and you know, I think many people don't know that mushrooms are not plants.

Uh, they are a separate kingdom, and we are more closely related to mushrooms.

We have more DNA in common with mushrooms than we do with plants.

And I think that mushrooms and also in their protein content are closer to meat than vegetable foods, and their texture is more like that.

DIANE: Dr.

Weil, thank you so much.

This was really fun and very informative.

DR.

WEIL: I enjoyed it greatly.

I look forward to more.

[Lyrical guitar music].

[Street sounds].

DIANE: I'm heading to Aleria, a restaurant in downtown Athens, to meet with chef Gikas Xenakis.

He's widely known here in Athens as the "Mushroom Master," growing, foraging, and cooking a wide variety of exotic mushrooms, which he serves in the restaurant.

DIANE: Today we're tasting Sparassis crispa, an edible and medicinal mushroom with a distinctive cauliflower-like appearance.

It is recognized for its potential health benefits, including anti-tumor, anti-cancer, and immune-enhancing properties.

He calls it bacon of the forest, and luckily it's one of the most delicious mushrooms in the world, transformed in his simple recipe that calls for nothing else but cooking them in a little extra virgin olive oil and a touch of butter with a pinch of sea salt for a few minutes until they're golden brown.

Then he plates this deliciously medicinal mushroom with a simple parsnip olive oil purée.

The brown sauce consists of mushrooms and vegetables cooked until tender, then reduced to get an intense mushroomy taste.

The plating is gorgeous, of course.

He shaves black truffle over the final dish, and I can't wait to try it.

DIANE: Chef, what intrigued you about mushrooms?

Why are you spending so much time learning about mushrooms?

What's, what's so magical about them?

DIANE: If you were to give advice to someone who is not a chef but who likes mushrooms?

DIANE: That was dinner... [chuckles].

It's like having a steak.

CHEF XENAKIS: Yes.

DIANE: It's very, very few calories.

So that means I can take this, right?

the last one, guilt, guilty guilt-free pleasure.

For recipe links and information about My Greek Table, visit my website Dianekochilas.com.

ANNOUNCER: Diane's cookbooks, The Ikaria Way and Athens: Food, Stories, Love, are available to purchase online at Dianekochlias.com or call the phone number on the screen.

My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas is made possible in part by... The Fillo Factory.

Grecian Delight/ Kronos.

A family committed to better eating.

The National Hellenic Society and by the following... [Bright guitar music over end credits].