In search of a marvellous meat-free treat? I have found the perfect fungus

I thought these delicacies were just a well-kept Croatian secret, but it seems the chicken of the woods' has been growing nearer to home all the time

I have an excellent mushroom supplier in Croatia. Her name is Meri and she is well into her 70s. It's really good gear she gets me, I promise you. I would put you in touch, but I want to keep this precious source to myself. These aren't magic mushrooms, by the way, but these mushrooms are magic. They have a texture as meaty as any meat I remember eating back when I ate meat. They are known as vrbovaa after the (willow) tree they grow on. She buys them in the spring in Osijek, in eastern Croatia, freezes them and brings them to the coast in the summer.

I always assumed these were a little-known local secret, but it turns out these devastatingly delicious things are everywhere, which begs the question: why aren't we eating them all the time? Laetiporus sulphureus is, strictly speaking, a bracket fungus, and it is more commonly known as chicken of the woods. I have only ever come across it once in the UK, as a starter in a fancy restaurant in west London. I was disappointed with the tiny threads I was served; my Meri's Laetiporus sulphureus are bigger than the plate this starter was served on.