400 Pieds Champignon
“Lion’s Mane, Chestnut, Coral tooth, Black Pearl King, Golden Enoki... if these sound unfamiliar to you, that’s not surprising. ”
These are all rare mushroom varieties that are usually destined for the chef's table rather than your own. Forget about button or portobello mushrooms... These deliver more than just umami flavour. They come in crazy colours (try baby pink or pale blue) and are ruffled, tipped, crenellated or cottony. They have texture and flavour more akin to meat or seafood than your regular mushroom. These mushrooms are hard to find and usually not available to everyday shoppers. Grocery shopping, like restaurants in 2021, underwent a huge transformation since the beginning of the pandemic. Everything moved online and produce once reserved for the culinary elite is finding its place in homes across North America. Suppliers that once catered to restaurants are now finding themselves selling to grocers and some of them are finding innovative ways of doing that. What kind of people are voyaging out into this unfamiliar landscape? Enter Michael Foyer, a chef, turned urban mushroom farmer and one of the mad scientists behind Les 400 Pieds de Champignons (400 feet of Mushrooms).
In worn Vans, a faded black t-shirt and huge gauged earrings he looks more like a skater or leader of a punk rock band, than a scientist. His sleeves of tattoos and gentle, laid back persona belie the passion and clinical precision it takes to run a mushroom farm that produces 800 pounds of rare mushrooms a week--nearing in the next 6 months to half a ton a week. Originally based in a 400 square foot office in an unassuming industrial building in Montreal's Cote-des-Neiges neighborhood, Michael's mushroom business has blossomed from hobby to full time business.
Visiting the multi-storied, industrial building that houses Les 400 Pieds' edgy operation is suprisingly ordinary. The building, a 1970's era block of beige office buildings, opens up onto a faded terrazzo foyer and after a short elevator ride to the 4th floor you've arrived. Stepping off the elevator you'll be welcomed by an heady yeast-like aroma that is more reminiscent of a bakery than a mushroom farm.
Once there, you'll find the bulk of the mushroom growing, split into 3 rooms:
Room 1 : Substrat mixing and pasteurizing room--- where they soak bags of wood material as the spawning medium for the mushrooms.
Room 2 : Laboratory and incubation --- where the spores are introduced to their bagged environment--as the spores mulitply they will eventually colonize the material and the entire bag will become a mushroom. (What we call mushrooms are actually the fruit of the plant, like tomatoes are fruit of a tomato plant.)
Room 3 : Fruiting chambers and transformation room ---- a space where the young mushrooms are brought to continue maturing before they are hand cut and delivered to customers.
The last room, is by far the most interesting. Rows of mist shrouded mushrooms sprout from mottled cellophane bags, their colors and shapes creating an otherwordly landscape of delicious decay.
As I wandered through the towering columns of fungi, I hear Michael greeting clients, talking with them about the varieties they purchased and even giving tips on how best to cook them or sharing recipes they shine best in... he pauses only to step inside the harvest area to handcut the order of mushrooms--- even letting customers peek in as he gathers it all together.
After touring through the various rooms and production areas, I sat down with Michael and asked him a few questions about his background, business and ethos.
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AW: When did you formally start your business?
ML: We formally started business back in December 2018, and I've been growing mushrooms for almost 6 years now.
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AW: What did you do before you started your business?
ML: Before being a mushroom farmer, I used to be a professional chef for 10 years and my partners, Graham and Jim quit their jobs and started a japanese knife business.
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AW: How did you learn how to grow mushrooms?
ML: I've learned to grow mushrooms from reading books and trial and error, lots of error!
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AW: How much do you currently produce, where do you sell it and what are all the varieties you produce?
ML: We currently produce around 800 pounds a week and will be produce between 1500 and 2000 pounds a week in a few months. We grow blue oysters, black pearl oysters, yellow oysters, pinks oysters, a local oyster that we found growing wild in MTL, pholiota adiposa, pioppino, lion's mane, combtooth, golden enokitake, maitake, reishi and winecap.
Our main clients used to be restaurants and lufa farms but since COVID (lost 90% of our clientele) we switched to grocery stores, markets and direct-sell to customers.
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AW: What do you love most about what you do?
ML: The constant evolution of our business and finding new, innovative ways to cultivate and produce a maximum amount of food in a very small space.
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AW: What is your mission around why you are producing mushrooms?
ML: Local Agriculture.
Local agriculture is the best way to help the environment as the food doesn't travel thousands of kilometers to reach the consumer. It's part of our mission to produce a large quantity of high protein, very nutritious food in a small space and in the middle of major city.
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Throughout my tour and interview of 400 pieds champignon, I was blown away by the sheer ingenuity of Micheal and his team. Transforming an entire floor of offices into something that produces nearly 4000 pounds of mushrooms a month is no small feat and speaks volumes to Michael's passion and determination for what he does.
Montreal's booming local urban agriculture is transforming not only restuarants but home kitchens across Quebec.
If you're interested in buying some 400 pieds champignon's amazing mushrooms.
You can head here: https://les400piedsdechampignon.com
Order on Lufa farms here: https://montreal.lufa.com/en/marketplace/partner/les-400-pieds-de-champignon-616
or follow them on Instagram as they introduce new weekly varieties: https://www.instagram.com/400piedschampignon/
If you'd like to see more businesses that we feature stay connected with us on Instagram where we'll be spotlighting makers across Quebec!
Like to be featured? Or want to hire us to do a documentary style photoshoot for your business or magazine? Head over to our contact us page or check out our portfolio here www.autumnwoodcreative.com
COMING SOON! Fromages du Verger
What happens when a bio-chemist decides to leave it all behind and start an organic sheep farm and orchard? Some amazing cheese and a gorgeous self-supporting farm.
