Are Mushrooms Unclean To Eat?

Name: Donna
Question: I cannot seem to find whether or not it is okay to consume mushrooms. Could you help me shed some light on it?

Answer: Thank you for the question Donna.

The Bible does not specifically say if mushrooms are unclean or clean to eat. In fact, the word “mushroom” never appears in the Bible.

So what can we say about eating mushrooms then?

Let’s flip our Bible over to Genesis and see what we can find out.

Genesis 1:29
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Did you catch that?

God wants us to consume fruits and plants that contain or bear seeds.

That covers just about every tree and plant it would seem. If a fruit or vegetable has a seed, then it’s a candidate for food. At the same time, there are highly poisonous fruits and vegetables that contain seeds. So just because a plant bears seed, that does not make it healthy either.

This was simply a general guideline God provided for us to follow.

All right, now let’s try and dial this in a bit more.

Mushrooms are not plants, they are a type of fungus. We all know fungi feed on decaying matter, so essentially, mushrooms can be considered a type of scavenger. When I read Leviticus 11, some of the animals we are prohibited from consuming are scavengers. So I feel we have a precedent there.

For example, vultures are not clean to eat, and they feed on rotting flesh which makes them a scavenger, (Leviticus 11:14, see: Eating ducks). The Bible also tells us pork is unclean to eat, and pigs will eat anything, even you, if you fall into their pen!

The next thing we should realize is mushrooms do not have seeds, they have spores. Mushrooms reproduce by creating, and then spreading spores into the surrounding environment. While spores may act like a seed, seeds and spores are different.

So that’s what we have.

I do want to note, certain types of mushrooms have healthy nutritional properties, even anti-cancer properties. Of course, some will also kill you if you eat them.

Summary

As we learned, the Bible does not specifically say if mushrooms are unclean to eat. So the best way to determine this, is by comparing what we do know about clean and unclean food in the Bible.

We know that God said to eat plants with seeds. Mushrooms are not plants, nor do they have seeds. Moreover, mushrooms feed on decaying matter. That just sounds gross, but we know animals that are scavengers are unclean to eat.

Due to these reasons, our family chooses to abstain from consuming mushrooms.

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