Quotes of the Day

When the dishes arrive, it's clear that Café des Spores is unlike any other eatery in St.-Gilles — the boho Brussels neighborhood that already boasts plenty of distinctive places to dine. From the shiitake farci, to Sparassis-crépus-and-Comté-cheese gratin, to cèpe-and-foie-gras crème brûlée, mushrooms are the star. Philippe Emanuelli, a sommelier by training, co-founded this curious concept bistro in 2004. Emboldened by his success, today he has handed the reins over to Jamie Oliver — trained chef Nicolas Scheidt and is working to spread his passion for fungi to a wider public.

It's a worthy challenge. "Even gourmet chefs rarely use more than four or five species," says Emanuelli, who says we could be eating 10 times as many. Released last year, Emanuelli's book, Une Initiation à la Cuisine du Champignon (An Introduction to Mushroom Cookery), gives recipes for some 50 varieties, purchased in Brussels markets (he isn't advocating weekend forest romps).

Emanuelli has also started importing fungi from pristine habitats around the world, like Greece's Valia-Kalda reserve. Lovely cèpes abound there, as does Coprinus comatus — a species redolent of strawberries but inedible if not prepared within hours of picking.

Emanuelli hopes the project will boost local economies and improve care of the habitats. Mushrooms link us to the natural world, he says: a deliciously sappy Lactarius deliciosus is like a pine-forest immersion; the earthy aroma of Tuber aestivum is fall distilled. And then there's the truffle, which gets its smell from androstenol — a substance bearing close resemblance to testosterone, and one that drives pigs and canines into a digging frenzy. "We cherish truffles for an aroma we find refined, but which also reveals the animal still inside us," he says. For urban foodies eager to get in touch with their wild side, it seems Emanuelli has the recipe.

Visit cafedesspores.be for more details.

• Jeffrey T. Iverson
• The Belgian restaurant that's putting magic back into mushrooms