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}}</ref> the Poles, along with other Balto-Slavic nations and northern Italians, belong to ''mycophillic'', or mushroom-loving, peoples. On the other end of the spectrum are ''mycophobic'' nations, which in Europe are mostly concentrated in the North Sea basin and whose risk acceptance in regards to mushroom picking only goes as far as picking up a plastic box of cultivated champignons in a supermarket.
Mycophobes may find the Polish passion for gathering, preserving and consuming wild mushrooms shockingly adventurous, foolhardy even. Isn't it dangerous? Well, yes, mushroom poisoning does occur more often in Poland than it does in countries where mushroom picking simply isn't a thing. But hardly as common as you might think. Within five years from 2009 to 2013, only eight people in western and central Poland died from mushroom poisoning (compared to 112 people who died from various alcohols, including 49 from methanol, and 95 who died from pharmaceutical drug overdose).<ref>As reported by six out of Poland's ten toxicological centres. {{Cyt
| tytuł = International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
| nazwisko r = Krakowiak ''et al.''