“There are over 680 documented species of the sac fungus genus Ophiocordyceps, and one of the best known of these is Ophiocordyceps sinensis, colloquially known as caterpillar fungus. The fungus is known in Tibetan as yartsa gunbu or yatsa gunbu. O. sinensis is known in the West as a medicinal mushroom and its use has a long history in Traditional Chinese medicine as well as Traditional Tibetan medicine. The highly valuable fungus-caterpillar combination is hand-collected and is used as an aphrodisiac and as a treatment for a variety of ailments from fatigue to cancer”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Nomads dig for Chinese caterpillar fungus from a mountain May 25, 2007 in Guide County, Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Nomads can earn about 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan (about U.S. $260 to $653 ) through their work during the fifty-day Chinese caterpillar fungus gathering season. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Chinese conglomerate Tiens Group employers take photos while waiting to be served Paella in Madrid, Spain, Friday, May 6, 2016. The billionaire founder of Chinese conglomerate Tiens Group is treating 3,000 of his best salespeople to a traditional Spanish paella meal in a free Madrid trip that also includes a bullfight and a tour of King Felipe VI's Royal Palace. The smiling salespeople washed down their heaping plates of paella with sangria Friday at a mass spread of picnic tables in a riverside park during the event footed by Li Jinyuan and organized by China's U Tour travel company. (Photo by Paul White/AP Photo)

Burger King employee Rumi Sekine shows the Kuro Diamond burger, right, and the Kuro Pearl burger at its Shibuya restaurant in Tokyo Tuesday, September 16, 2014. The international hamburger chain in Japan will launch the two new “kuro burger”, or “black burger” menus that sport buns, cheese and sauce all in black color, starting on Friday, Sept. 19, for a limited period. The buns and cheese are darkened with bamboo charcoal while the beef patties made with black-pepper are topped with the garlic sauce using squid ink. (Photo by Koji Sasahara/AP Photo)

An altar is pictured after it was decorated by the Antar family with some 3,000 traditional cheese and corn buns called “chipas”, in celebration of Kurusu Ara in Asuncion May 3, 2015. Kurusu Ara, the Day of the Cross, is a Catholic festival that is combined with local Gurani culture and falls annually on May 3. Paraguayans typically celebrate the festival with chipas, used to decorate religious shrines and altars. The chipas are later distributed to attendees. The buns at the top are arranged to read, “March 3 live”. (Photo by Jorge Adorno/Reuters)

In Portugal, in the last decade of September 2022 American singer-songwriter Nicole Scherzinger loosens up her buttons and lets the sun heat up her buns. (Photo by Nicole Scherzinger/Instagram)

Children at Somerleyton School in Suffolk, UK on February 27, 2025 tuck into an iced bun, given by the Lord and Lady Somerleyton along with a £1 coin, as part of a long-standing tradition dating back to 1877". (Photo by Jason Bye for the Times)

A young Thai man jumps in the air and cheers as his rocket takes off at the Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festival on May 10, 2015 in Yasothon, Thailand. During the Bun Bang Fai rocket festival, Thai residents launch enormous home-made rockets into the air to gain Buddhist merit and to celebrate the beginning of the rainy season. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)

A young Thai man jumps in the air and cheers as his rocket takes off at the Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festival on May 10, 2015 in Yasothon, Thailand. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)