The Underground Fungus Network Being Grown as a Meat Filler

Mycelium is the part of a fungus most people never see: hidden, underground networks of root-like strands that give rise to mushrooms. Those networks can be grown and harvested directly rather than waiting for the mushroom itself to appear. A Vancouver-based company has worked out a way to do that at scale, and CBC reports the result is a food product that can add bulk to meat products. Think of it less as a mushroom substitute and more as a structural ingredient — something that occupies space in a patty or a meatball that meat would otherwise have to fill.