by Mark Wach
The mushroom industry meeting calendar seems to fill up quickly, with so many worthwhile opportunities to meet with fellow scientists and industry professionals. In August, there is the Symposium on Edible Mushroom in Brazil, in September the Annual Mushroom Short Course offered by Penn State University in the USA, in November the Chinese Mushroom Day will again be held in Zhangzhou and we are all looking forward to Mushroom Week 2016. But this September, there will be a special meeting honoring a member of our industry, which I will take time to attend and which I believe is worth mentioning.
Professor S.T. Chang was a key member of the ISMS ExCom for many years, and is an Honorary Lifetime member of our Society. With the help of such industry visionaries as Australia’s Mr. Marsh Lawson, Chang opened up China’s mushroom industry to the world and helped us become acquainted with what we affectionately still refer to as the “exotic” mushroom, also known as Shiitake and Oyster and Straw Paddy. The book he co-edited with Dr. Fred Hayes, “The Biology and Cultivation of Edible Mushrooms” remains a key reference in most mushroom libraries today.
He promoted the concept, long held in Asian countries, which spoke of the medicinal value of mushroom, long before we had studied the complex molecules found in them, such as branched beta glucans, triterpenes and aromatase inhibitors. Perhaps most importantly, he recognized that mushrooms could be used as a means of feeding populations that might otherwise struggle to survive. He traveled the world teaching others that mushrooms were a means by which communities could convert agricultural wastes using simple technologies, into higher value products that could create jobs, generate income and feed families.
Titled the “International Seminar of Dr. S. T. Chang’s Academic Thoughts”, and hosted by his many colleagues in Shanghai, the meeting has been organized on the occasion of Chang’s 85th birthday, and celebrates the achievements of a man who has spent a career integrating mushrooms into the fiber of our society. The seminar intends to gather some of his colleagues from around the world, to review, discuss and expand on the areas of mushroom biology that have been the foundation of his storied career. As an industry we are indebted to Dr. S. T. Chang, for all that he has done to promote the value of our industry throughout the world, and I hope you will join me in wishing him a Happy 85th Birthday.
From Mushroom Business, September 2015 edition 72