Gippsland mushroom grower target of ‘fungiphobia’ after deadly Leongatha lunch

A Gippsland mushroom grower has revealed he became the target of tasteless, crass mushroom jokes after three people died from alleged death cap poisoning after a lunch in Leongatha.

A Gippsland mushroom grower says he was the target of “fungiphobic” jokes after three people died from alleged death cap poisoning in Leongatha.

Erin Patterson is facing three murder charges and five counts of attempted murder after she invited four of her former in-laws to her country home and cooked them a beef wellington dish allegedly laced with poisonous mushrooms.
Within days of that July 29 lunch, Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, were dead.

Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, miraculously survived the lunch but spent two months fighting for life in hospital.

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Mushroom farmer Josef Sestokas. Picture Supplied

Flooding Creek Fungi owner Josef Sestokas told the Herald Sun that following the deaths, his urban mushroom farm was hit with a spike in crude jokes.

“We suffered a reduction in business at farmers’ markets,” he said.

“We also had quite a steep escalation in sort of fungiphobic kind of talk, it was largely really poor tasting jokes revolving around the unfortunate business at Leongatha.

“It was really persistent from the get go, it was a shock.”

Mr Sestokas said the mushroom remarks were “demoralising”

“We had up to a dozen people in a morning at a market trying to crack, usually the same joke, over and over, questioning whether we were selling toxic mushrooms,” he said.

“I’d push back on that and say, well, you might think that’s funny, but I really don’t.

“It really got us down, it was demoralising.”

The former police officer cut his farmers’ market appearances from four to one a month.

“Now and again there’s one or two people that say something that’s kind of pretty outrageous and it’s unfiltered,” he said.

“I realise that there’s people out there who either don’t have a filter or that they are possibly not well.

“It takes the wind right out of your sails, it wears you down.”

Mr Sestokas’ farm grows shiitake mushrooms, among many others. Picture: Richard Jupe

Mr Sestokas’ farm, located 216km from Melbourne in Sale, sells a variety of mushrooms, including oyster, shiitake, baby king, blue shimeji and lion’s mane.

All of his mushrooms are of premium, gourmet quality.

Three months before the three deaths, Gippsland Southern Health Service chief executive Louise Sparkes issued a warning about the dangers of eating wild mushrooms.

Mr Sestokas says it’s ‘very difficult’ to distinguish between poisonous and edible wild mushrooms.

“It is very difficult to distinguish between poisonous and edible wild mushrooms, so the best advice is to only consume mushrooms purchased from a retail outlet,” she said.

Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas issued a similar warning days after Don, Gail and Heather died.

“I do ask people to out in the community to think about mushrooms that they may have picked out in the paddocks, on farms, whatever it might be,” he said.

“Please think about what they are and whether you should be eating them.

“My suggestion is if you haven’t purchased them from a supermarket or something like that, perhaps stay clear of them.”

Originally published as Gippsland mushroom grower target of ‘fungiphobia’ after deadly Leongatha lunch