Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon

There are no commercial abattoirs or slaughterhouses in Bhutan – you can’t fish commercially. You can’t euthanize your pet or those sometimes annoying stray dogs. All those wandering cows will die by misadventure or old age although, if I understood Karma correctly, you can hire someone (non-Buddhist) to butcher your cow for personal consumption. All of the chicken, beef and fish we’ve been eating comes from India and Thailand. Animals here have it pretty good – it’s estimated that over half the (human) population is vegetarian.

As such, I was surprised to see CORDYCEPS for sale. If you’ve been watching The Last of Us you’ll know that cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) is a fungus that infects humans in movie life, typically ants in real life, and then keeps them alive enough to control their actions. In Bhutan the cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) fungus attacks the larvae of the ghost moth and grows up from its head. Someone decided to taste it and now it’s a big ticket item in Asian medicine – taken as tea or in powder form. Also known as Himalayan viagra, it’s sold everywhere and for a lot of money.

I guess that the larvae are considered to be dead so okay to harvest(?) The government legalized the harvest in 2004 but it was mostly to curb cross border poaching by Tibetans. The collection and sale of cordyceps is heavily regulated. Only certain families are allowed to collect, only a certain number of people from each family are allowed to collect. Collection is limited to a one month period. Most of the harvesting is done above 5000m. Vendors post their licences in the shops. You can buy online for $40 – $50 per gram. My little vial cost $18 USD much cheaper in Gangtey.