The Burmese are learning to grow shiitake on logs, swiss browns in compost and oyster mushrooms in bags of straw. The organic mushrooms are labelled "OM".

Sharma Luital introduces a tall open-faced man with a beaming smile. Beyame Benjamin is from the Karen ethnic minority in Burma. There are about 7 million Karen people living in the mountains of Burma and Thailand and they have been fighting for autonomy since the end of the Second World War. Benjamin and his family fled persecution after fierce fighting with Burmese Government troops in 1995.

"I used to be a school teacher," Benjamin says. "My family had a small farm and grew rice, peanuts, yellow beans and snake beans. But then I joined the Karen Revolutionary Army. I worked in the workshop repairing guns and other weapons. Now I use my welding experience to make racks for the mushrooms to grow on."

When the project finishes later this year, Benjamin and three other Burmese refugees will have a Certificate 2 Horticulture and will be able to continue to make a living growing mushrooms.

Luital explains the simplicity of growing mushrooms on logs. "This is done across Asia, in the US, NZ and a few places in Australia. All you need is access to wooden logs, a sheltered space out of the wind and some water. This is bringing traditional technology to a modern market. This is something that could be done not just by immigrants, but also by farmers wanting to diversify production. It is something that doesn't take a lot of investment."

Under the shade cloth in a spare corner of CERES are 600 logs. Although shiitake traditionally grow on oak logs, this test program has proved that the Japanese mushrooms grow equally well on shining gum, blackwood, elder and poplar, without affecting the flavour of the mushrooms.

The logs are soaked in water and a hole is drilled in the side. A piece of dowel inoculated with shiitake spores is inserted into the log and covered with beeswax. The fungus grows like white threads under the bark and into the wood. After six to seven months it is ready to send out its fruiting body - the mushrooms we eat.

To encourage the fungus to fruit, the logs are traditionally soaked in water but can be shocked into fruiting by refrigeration or being hit with a stick 10 times. "This is my own trick I learned from other mushroom experts in New Zealand," explains Sharma Luital. Soon after the shiitake mushrooms appear and are ready to harvest in 10 to 14 days.

Sharma Luital and his team are producing up to 10 kilograms of shiitake mushrooms a week, most of which they sell at the Melbourne Market. Jimmi Buscombe from Ceres Cafe buys the rest. With them he makes shiitake and daikon omelets. The shiitake are gently stewed with a little clove and cinnamon. This mixture is spooned over an open omelet, which is then folded and covered with nori strips and toasted sesame seeds. It is a textural experience - crunchy and slippery at the same time: the shiitake adds a gentle woody fragrance.

To support the shiitake project, the team grows up to 400 kilograms of swiss brown and oyster mushrooms every week. "It's a chance for the Karen people to get a new start and an education, employment and a chance to learn the Australian cultures," Luital says.

Benjamin chips in: "Sometimes we take them home and make soup with garlic, a little stock and some meat. We are lucky because we (Karen) share a lot of the ingredients with the Vietnamese so we buy vegetables to make a lot of our traditional food."

Benjamin says this is a way of bracing himself against the chill of a Melbourne winter. "We miss our food. But this mushroom project has been good for us. A lot of the Karen people were once farmers and now we will be again here in Melbourne."

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