“People here used to hate it,” says Layzu Akter, describing the oyster mushrooms from which she now generates a good income. “Locally, they would call these mushrooms ‘frogs’ umbrellas.’”

A closer look at the delicate mushrooms, sprouting out of an odd-looking package, makes it clearer why someone would make that comparison.

Yet today, the pearly-white fungus, a delicacy in many places, is also increasingly popular in Akter’s community in northeastern Bangladesh’s Kurigram District – thanks to a broader World Food Programme (WFP) initiative that has transformed the livelihoods of food-insecure families like Akter’s, who once struggled to make ends meet.