On April 29, 2014, Frances Chevonne Dancer got out of bed to start my day and fell onto the floor. I was 33 years old and I had a hemorrhagic stroke. Amongst seeking aid in a doctor’s care for my illness, I replaced fatty fried foods with gourmet mushrooms. This is my story.

I was reared in an under-served community where my father was centered around agriculture, whose major at Alcorn State University was a Bachelor of Science of Agriculture. My family (including myself) spent almost every Saturday pulling and shucking corn, picking field peas and butter beans and shelling them, pulling okra, radishes, cucumbers, hot peppers, and picking greens in order to have a fresh, nutritious, and sustainable meal for my family. If there was a surplus of vegetables, my father sold them to market.

My mother, whose alma mater is Alcorn State University, graduated with a Master of Education from William Carey University where she taught elementary school for 38+ years in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. I wanted to be just like my mother, but at an advanced level of education.

I received a terminal degree from Mississippi State University where my main focus was in the area of Computer Science with an emphasis in Computer Security/Mobile Device Forensics along with other courses such as Software Engineering, Database, and High Performance Computing, Visualization. While instructing at Jackson State University, which is my alma mater, I had a stroke. It took me almost a year to start speaking in sentences again as all I could say was “OK”. With the help of speech & physical therapy and the medicinal proprieties of gourmet mushrooms, I lived in order to tell my story to someone else.

Since I am, in essence, both my father and mother’s ideals, mushroom farming is an exceptional option for nutrition and health. Flavourful Fungi is focused on aiding in the extinction of food deserts in under-served populations while educating the public about gourmet mushrooms and its medicinal properties.