# PT 645 - Oli Genn-Bash: Functional Mushrooms, Hype Cycles, and Mycelial Thinking

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/psychedelics-today-777076/pt-645-oli-genn-bash-functional-mushrooms-hype-cycles-and-mycelial-thinking
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/psychedelics-today-777076/pt-645-oli-genn-bash-functional-mushrooms-hype-cycles-and-mycelial-thinking.md
Podcast: [Psychedelics Today](https://stenobird.com/podcast/psychedelics-today-777076)
Published: 2025-12-28T21:42:00+00:00
Episode link: https://psychedelicstoday.libsyn.com/pt-645-oli-genn-bash-functional-mushrooms-hype-cycles-and-mycelial-thinking
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/psychedelicstoday/PT_645_-_Oli_Genn-Bash.mp3?dest-id=381511
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Duration seconds: 4494

## Resource

Oli Genn-Bash (Brighton, UK) joins Joe Moore for a grounded conversation on the boom in functional mushrooms and why the category may be moving too quickly. As the founder of The Fungi Consultant , Oli works with consumers and brands to demystify functional mushrooms, with a focus on education, traceability, and realistic expectations. The conversation begins with a critique of wellness hype cycles. Oli explains how consumer desperation for help with anxiety, sleep, stress, and cognition can create an opening for a rapid wave of products that are not always grounded in careful sourcing or clear science. Using lion's mane as a case study, he contrasts popular cognitive claims with traditional use, arguing that the most useful path forward is to slow down, get more literate about mechanisms, and build a market that can sustain trust over time. Systems and Culture Oli describes how individual health is inseparable from community realities, including food access, class dynamics, and what wellness advice can sound like when it lands from a place of privilege. They discuss mycelial thinking as a practical framework for collaboration and resource-sharing, and why mushrooms tend to attract unusually generous "teach everyone" communities. They also explore the role of mushrooms in meaning-making and consciousness. Oli shares personal reflections on mushrooms as allies, the felt sense of "agency" in psychedelic experiences, and how those experiences can encourage behavioral change without forcing it. The conversation touches on alcohol culture in the UK and the possibility of non-alcoholic alternatives, including how functional mushrooms , microdosing , and other botanicals can support social confidence and energy for some people. Finally, they look ahead at fungal innovation be…

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