Matsi mania

How does a despot show his guest he had a really, really good time? Matsutake mushrooms! According to a Reuters story, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il presented visiting South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun with a going-away present of 4 tons of the prized pine mushrooms after their recent summit.

That's a gift the wire service estimates has a value of $2.4 million, based on the reported South Korean street price of "up to" $654 per kilogram. Of course, in Japanese groceries in Southern California, Oregon matsutakes (they are a slightly different variety) are selling for $90 a pound, which would only equal $720,000. And if they bought them from David West at the Santa Monica farmers market, they could get them as cheap as $25 a pound, which would bring it down to a rock-bottom $200,000.

That's probably not going to make most North Koreans feel any better -- the country's per capita income is estimated at $760 a year, and thousands of people flee every year trying to escape starvation.

What did Roh give Kim? A collection of South Korean films and television dramas -- priceless in the North, where they are banned.

-- Russ Parsons

Photo by Eric Boyd

Comments

[FunGuy]

In the western U.S., Sonoma County + Grand Teton National Park matsutakes are priceless -- best enjoyed oven-roasted, with a splash of gingered-soy.