Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #2

[CityKid]

I can't imagine how it works to have people round for a meal and put down plates and let people pick one? it doesn't ring true.

You would either put the 'beef wellington' down on a large serving plate and allow people to help themselves -or- you'd plate it up and hand them a plated portion one by one, either from a serving hatch, from a serving trolley or one by one to the table the same as a waiter would.

In the history of time when has anyone left five plated up hot dinners somewhere and said take whichever one you'd like?

Yeah, this is another of the things that don't make sense in this case IMO. Beef Wellington looks fancy, like it takes some time to prepare with all the different steps involved. Most photos I've seen have it served in one big piece for the presentation, although I've seen it done as individual pies. If you're having people over for a nice meal, it sounds odd to me to put pre-plated food on a side table like it's a buffet, especially for food served hot.

 

[sceawian]

For the "into unicorns" statement, I took that to mean others saw that interest as emblematic of her having (what some would consider) childish interests / tastes - perhaps even extending to behaviour. When I think of someone in my life who is really into unicorns.... it's basically just my 6 and 4 year old nieces.

Seems like a weird connection, but Lucy Letby has a similar vibe, too. You would've thought her bedroom and belongings were that of a (millennial) child/teenager, rather than a grown woman with her own house.

 

[silvercrown]

For the "into unicorns" statement, I took that to mean others saw that interest as emblematic of her having (what some would consider) childish interests / tastes - perhaps even extending to behaviour. When I think of someone in my life who is really into unicorns.... it's basically just my 6 and 4 year old nieces.

Seems like a weird connection, but Lucy Letby has a similar vibe, too. You would've thought her bedroom and belongings were that of a (millennial) child/teenager, rather than a grown woman with her own house.

FYI Millennials are between 29/30, and 42yo.

The way I see it, as an adult, being ‘into unicorns’ is either a fetish (unlikely imo) or as you say, someone with juvenile taste.

Or maybe she has a unicorn sticker on her car, or letterbox, and someone’s read more into that than is really there. Who knows.

 

[bearbear]

being "into unicorns" may just mean shes very childlike, which does come across with the fake crying and hands over her eyes, or it could also just mean shes into other worldly things like fairies and magic and mother nature, a tree hugger, alternative lifestyle, same with the drawing on the wall, whoever did it, she just might not think its a big deal and see it as her children expressing themselves in their own home,
annoyingly people seem to need to give people they dont understand labels

 

[mangoes999]

I don't think it's inherently racist - if she knew they sell packs of dried mushrooms in the polish shop or the african shop or the russian shop she would have said that. Possibly she is also racist. Also possibly the act of assigning 'blame' onto any minority group is a form of prejudice but I think she was trying to think of a shop / market where there wouldn't be CCTV or receipts that she could be held account to unlike say she went into a supermarket. Maybe she'd have been best to say 'the farmers market' or the 'organic growers pop up stall' and then we might all believe that there's someone selling foraged mushrooms.

agree - and can buy dried mushrooms from healthfood shops too-a lot cultures use them.

 

[silvercrown]

agree - and can buy dried mushrooms from healthfood shops too-a lot cultures use them.

Both Coles and Woolworths sell packages of dried mushrooms, for what it’s worth.

So does my local IGA.

 

[Oona]

If the toxicology results do indicate that DC mushrooms were ingested by the victims, will EP argue that it was accidental? Either admitting they were foraged or sticking to the Asian Grocer line?

In an imagined scenario, where the cook is unaware that they have inadvertently used a toxic variety of mushrooms (whether foraged or bought) I picture the cook preparing the mushroom duxelles, simmering them away with herbs and wine and such, and wonder: wouldn’t it be normal for the cook to taste test this mushroom mix?
If so, and the mushrooms are indeed toxic even in very small doses, wouldn’t the cook exhibit some symptoms of poisoning earlier than the guests?

As much as I would like to think this was an accident and EP has dug herself into a bit of a hole with the lie about the dehydrator, I am leaning toward two beef Wellington dishes being prepared for that lunch.

 

[silvercrown]

If the toxicology results do indicate that DC mushrooms were ingested by the victims, will EP argue that it was accidental? Either admitting they were foraged or sticking to the Asian Grocer line?

In an imagined scenario, where the cook is unaware that they have inadvertently used a toxic variety of mushrooms (whether foraged or bought) I picture the cook preparing the mushroom duxelles, simmering them away with herbs and wine and such, and wonder: wouldn’t it be normal for the cook to taste test this mushroom mix?
If so, and the mushrooms are indeed toxic even in very small doses, wouldn’t the cook exhibit some symptoms of poisoning earlier than the guests?

As much as I would like to think this was an accident and EP has dug herself into a bit of a hole with the lie about the dehydrator, I am leaning toward two beef Wellington dishes being prepared for that lunch.

Great point. I love to cook and always try as I go.
Edit, I’m leaning more towards poisonous gravy rather than the BW itself moo imo

 

[jjenny]

Great point. I love to cook and always try as I go.
Edit, I’m leaning more towards poisonous gravy rather than the BW itself moo imo

That's what I am thinking. Beef Wellington is usually served with a sauce or gravy. Death cup mushrooms don't have any unpleasant taste so it would be easy to make a gravy that would not taste unusual.

 

[mangoes999]

I wonder this too - that maybe if she didn't realise how deadly the mushrooms are or she didn't handle them in a 'clinical' way that there was effectively all sorts of potential cross contamination and maybe that very toxic powdered mushroom isn't as easy to control as one would imagine

Also if she thought the effects would be long and slow and not

Both Coles and Woolworths sell packages of dried mushrooms, for what it’s worth.

So does my local IGA.

MSN

www.msn.com

Supermarkets and mushroom suppliers have insisted there is zero chance they would sell poisonous fungi after Erin Patterson claimed she bought the ingredients from a grocery store instead of foraging for them.


But producers have emphatically denied that poisonous mushrooms would ever be sold to customers - with Coles and Woolworths the latest to defend their products.

The consequences of lying are far reaching.

mushrooms are just great -breakfast/soup/pasta/casserole/stirfry. a moments silence for the good mushie x

 

[Lubilu]

Great point. I love to cook and always try as I go.
Edit, I’m leaning more towards poisonous gravy rather than the BW itself moo imo

Same. I did wonder how you could guarantee that your guests would have some of gravy - but I imagine if you said something like 'I spent half the morning on the gravy alone' guests would be compelled to try some out of politeness. It's possible even, in this imagined scenario, that a guest who wasn't so fond of gravy might take a smaller amount. They might be less sick than the other guests who lashed it on. Really speculating here, but the host might also 'not like' gravy themselves and not have any, or only add very little to their plate.

 

[jjenny]

Same. I did wonder how you could guarantee that your guests would have some of gravy - but I imagine if you said something like 'I spent half the morning on the gravy alone' guests would be compelled to try some out of politeness. It's possible even, in this imagined scenario, that a guest who wasn't so fond of gravy might take a smaller amount. They might be less sick than the other guests who lashed it on. Really speculating here, but the host might also 'not like' gravy themselves and not have any, or only add very little to their plate.

Most people like sauce or gravy, so presumably guests would just want to use it.

 

[mangoes999]

Having watched numerous episodes of the USA TV show called 'Intervention', I'm starting to see how ayhis

In a situation were four out of five people attending are dead or nearly dead, hubby could look a bit suspicious himself there

Possibly she's been mildly poisoning people for years and in this instance it all went extreme? I mean to say that maybe this batch of mushrooms was way stronger than any previous experiments?

omg - its so twisted this event -the country town, the good son,the baptists,the preacher and the poisoner

 

[mangoes999]

Despite the red flags, Erin may be innocent.

If she is innocent, she has all my sympathy.

stranger things have happened eh.

 

[VerityGumshoe]

mushrooms are just great -breakfast/soup/pasta/casserole/stirfry. a moments silence for the good mushie x

As long as it’s just a moment

 

[kittythehare]

She also confirmed media speculation that she took a food dehydrator to a dump, admitting she had lied to investigators when she initially told them she had thrown it out a long time before.
Patterson wrote she had panicked and decided to remove the kitchen item after her ex-husband, the son of her dead in-laws, had asked her: “Is that what you used to poison them?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/15/new-details-about-australian-mushroom-deaths-stir-speculation/

 

[CityKid]

Both Coles and Woolworths sell packages of dried mushrooms, for what it’s worth.

So does my local IGA.

I think EP's mention of an Asian shop in Melbourne, I believe, was a lie to deflect attention from the area where she lives. Dried mushrooms are readily available in so many types of shops I find it hard to believe she needed to travel to find them.

 

[CityKid]

I am leaning toward two beef Wellington dishes being prepared for that lunch.

I agree. Either that or she she made them more like Cornish pasties and marked individual ones that contained the death cap mushrooms. That way she had safe ones for the kids (I don't believe her scraping off mushrooms story) and herself, and had some she could give to the police.

 

[silvercrown]

I think EP's mention of an Asian shop in Melbourne, I believe, was a lie to deflect attention from the area where she lives. Dried mushrooms are readily available in so many types of shops I find it hard to believe she needed to travel to find them.

Yeah, if she is guilty then I totally believe this is the reason!

 

[RickshawFan]

Likewise "pot luck" is not a phrase commonly used in Australia. In fact there may be many Australians who have never heard of it.

Is there a term in AUS for a meal where everyone brings something?

I believe "pot luck" may be related to a Native American word, pot latch, but I'm probably making this up.