A film introducing us to the cep mushroom, an autumnal treasure: from the latest scientific discoveries to its social and economic implications, by way of the culinary aspect, the film leads us through a poetical investigation of the mysteries of this legendary fungus.

Eric, an erudite and spiritual editor from Bordeaux, takes us on a journey to discover the cep mushroom. He introduces us to Jacques Guiberteau from INRA, Europe’s top agricultural research institute, responsible for some highly unlikely attempts at its domestication; meets mushroom pickers from the Basque Country and Creuse to reveal the social and economic implications of this autumnal treasure; visits the Villefranche cep market in the Dordogne and the Italian forests in which ceps are worth more than wood. He also takes us to the cork oak forests of northern Morocco.

But Eric has only one idea in mind: to film a cep growing live, for its poetry and mystery.

A patrimonial film, this documentary also has a prospective element in addressing the subject of mycotourism, mycosylviculture and what some might see as the sacrilegious practise of steaming ceps, a technique that preserves the mushroom’s great nutritional qualities.