How Syrians displaced by war have adapted to their new ways of living, just like the fungi they are now cultivating for their survival.

Mushrooms are one of Earth’s most fascinating lifeforms, neither plant nor animal, but fungi. Genetically more similar to humans than to plants, mushrooms breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide to survive. Like us, they have sensory perception, finding ways to adapt and respond to their environment, to regenerate, in the most unexpected places. It may not be a coincidence, then, that the two life forms, mushrooms and humankind, have created a symbiotic existence.

All living organisms need to adapt to their environments in order to survive, including humans. Early human societies would live nomadic lifestyles, often migrating in search of land or moving to warmer climes when winter set in. They would be forced to build new homes and start again when war or natural disasters destroyed their livelihoods.

Today, millions of Syrians, displaced and scattered within their homeland and outside, are finding ways to survive, adapt and regenerate in new - sometimes unfamiliar - environments. A civil war, raging since 2011, has led to the razing of homes and agricultural land, the stealing of people, peace and prosperity. Basic food items have been difficult to find or afford for Syrian people. The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) says 12.4 million Syrians are in need of emergency food assistance in 2022 - that’s about 60% of the country’s population.

Mahmoud Juha, a former ice salesman, is from eastern Ghouta - a once peaceful Damascan suburb. Now displaced, living in Afrin, near Syria’s border with Turkey, Juha has retrained as a farmer. “During the years of siege by regime forces on eastern Ghouta, the most basic food for our people was limited. We couldn’t work, we couldn’t survive, we needed to find a way to live,” he says.

In 2014, the Syrian news source, Syria Deeply, reported that on average food inflation rose by 300% in the first three years of the war and with meat and dairy products increasing the most, it made it difficult for Syrians.

In 2018, an unnamed man from eastern Ghouta sent a candid letter to the mycological research company Fungi Perfecti, founded by American mycologist Paul Stamet, describing how Stamet’s ideas had helped him provide food for his people. The letter-writer, whose name was withheld to protect his identity, explained: “Living with no food supply, no electricity, [and] bombardments [for six years]… Stamet’s ideas of using mushrooms to save the world were in my mind through those years, and they guide[d] me to help people, my family and myself. I dedicated myself to help people with some novel solutions using my experience in mycology.”

The letter-writer detailed how he had helped set up the Nwat Centre for Scientific Studies to research ways of quickly growing fungi packed with protein and vitamin D. He wrote that he realised a lack of agricultural land and financial resources wouldn’t be a hindrance. Mushroom farming requires neither large amounts of space, nor large financial investment, making it a good fit for their needs.

Mushrooms thrive in dark corners - they can grow in places like basements, where Syrians were moved to shelter from aircraft missiles and chemical weapons. NGOs were quick to offer support in training the local community to overcome food shortages. In batches, a total of 1,500 men and women were taught how to grow the fungi at home.

Juha was one of those on the course. He says the mushrooms from his crop “tasted excellent” after he cooked them scrambled with egg. The flavour and the nutritional value of mushrooms was enough to encourage him and others to continue growing the fungi. He explains: “Mushrooms are said to be ‘the meat of the poor.’ But when the course ended we started to distribute baskets to grow mushrooms at home. It was so successful and people didn’t need to be convinced to do this. Like I said before, we needed to find a way to live.”

In 2018, a seven-week military offensive and a suspected chemical weapons attack on eastern Ghouta destroyed homes and lives. Those who survived relocated to makeshift homes in the north of the country, some to Afrin and others to the Atmeh camp just 200 metres from Turkey’s south-eastern border. As the communities reluctantly resettled, their lives and their cuisines also adapted. Now, four years since the move, food is still scarce and even more expensive, and the fabric of the displaced temporary shelters remain.

Amal Muhammad, a resident at Atmeh camp, says she’d only use mushrooms as a pizza topping before the war. Now, she cooks with fungi twice a week. “I had to use mushrooms instead of meat to compensate my children for some vitamins that they lack because they did not eat meat, and I have adapted to using mushrooms in some of the cooking I make.

“My children and my husband were not used to eating mushrooms instead of meat, but now, after tasting it, we all love it so much and our favourite dish is eggs with mushrooms. There are many families who use mushrooms instead of meat now because of the high cost of meat and the inability of the head of the family to buy it,” she adds.

Juha and a community of six families now grow oyster mushrooms from a derelict building. When they moved to Afrin in 2018, they brought their families and their newly-found farming methods with them to build what is now Al-Amal (Hope) farm. Juha explains: “At first, we did not have any financial support. We borrowed the money, such as a loan, and from sales were able to pay off the debts.”

In a darkened room, he and six other farmers inspect their harvest. Not wishing to disturb their crop, they use only the light from their mobile phones to check the mushroom spores. “We can grow seven different types of oyster mushrooms that vary in colour, texture and taste,” says Juha.

To grow the mushrooms, the farmers first soak loose hay in water for about 12 hours until it becomes saturated. It’s then mixed with gypsum fertiliser and moved to room kept at 90C, where the mixture is left for up to six hours to pasteurise.

Once the hay has cooled, mushroom spores are mixed in and it is distributed into nylon bags which are perforated for aeration. The bags are then placed in the darkened room kept at 25C where the farmers will later inspect them. “They’ll be left in a dark, damp room for somewhere between 18 and 22 days,” says Juha.

As the pearly white oyster mushrooms begin to sprout from sacks, they’re moved to the fruiting room which is a little cooler at 16C. It’s here that they’ll become edible.

The mushrooms are grown not only to feed individual families or households, but as a vital food source for the community and surrounding communities.

“It wasn’t difficult to convince people to adapt. We had no source of protein and we know that mushrooms are a useful and nutritious source and their price is acceptable. Due to the high prices of meat, chicken and eggs, we grew a quantity of mushrooms and started distributing them in the markets. People are convinced once they taste it.”

The farm created jobs, and the once abandoned building is now a musty home for hundreds of kilos of mushrooms. It’s not just oyster mushrooms they can grow, Juha explains they’ve successfully grown shiitake, royal mushrooms and cordyceps. But the oysters are the most popular.

The hope is to one day export mushrooms to other cities, and maybe even outside of Syria. But the displaced people of Syria have only one hope for themselves, and that is to return to their homes.