WHEN he was a boy and his father hunted game in the woods of Alsace, Jean-Georges Vongerichten would tag along and forage for mushrooms.

“The morels smell like fresh moss in the spring,” said Mr. Vongerichten, an owner of 28 restaurants in New York and around the world. “The chanterelles, for me, are like the field, like fresh grass, and slightly sweet. The shiitake, I would say, the bark of the woods. That’s where they grow.”

“Mushrooms have memories for me,” he said.

For vegetarians, mushrooms provide something much more substantial, a meaty succulence and satisfying texture that can be missing from a meat-free diet. They have a remarkable variety of forms and tastes, and take on deeper, richer flavors when sautéed, steamed, roasted or grilled.