Unethical pro-tip here…but I speak from experience. Cook delicious food, let your family enjoy it, and don’t even tell them it had mushrooms in it. Dice them up pretty small, cook them in a dry pan on medium heat stirring occasionally until they release their water and it mostly evaporates. Add a chunk of butter to the pan, then chopped onion, and let the onions cook down. From there add garlic and any combination of chopped carrots, peppers, squash, potatoes, fennel, bacon, or anthing else you want/have. Add a bit of butter or a bit of water every now and then so it doesn’t get dry while cooking. Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, or whatever you prefer (coriander, sage, and allspice are my go-tos). Serve it over some pasta.

By the end of this, the mushrooms will be visibly imperceptible but will still take you to flavortown. My family used to be anti-mushroom too, until I repeatedly fed them mushrooms and they loved them every time.

As far as accessing a wider variety of mushrooms, I’m fortunate to have a grocery store with a big selection. Fresh oyster or lion’s mane cooked just like above are absolutely delicious but a bit pricey. You can more easily find dried mushrooms, even online, which you just rehydrate briefly before you use them.

The last option is to grow your own. Both lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms (and others) are insanely easy to grow, just search for whatever variety “mushroom block” and have one delivered. I cut some vent holes in a clear plastic tub, turned it upside down and set the block inside. It stays humid enough with an occasional spray of water and I had several large flushes of lion’s mane