I suspect you are right here - not dissimilar to how I go to the woods after morels and would never pay the $50/pound that you find in some farmer’s markets

Picking mushrooms wild is, in fairness, hugely time-intensive.

Also a great outdoor activity, so keep doing that. I'm sure you know just the right spots by now. :-)

That's common with foragers. They also pick wild mushrooms which are very expensive in the market.

Greece produces saffron, https://safran.gr/ You can find them in shops, even on airport shops.

I thought the venison thing was because it’s illegal to farm deer (in the US anyway).

I can't speak to deer, but my cousin had an elk farm previously so that was at least legal. Given concerns over wasting disease, I'm not sure if farming deer would be a good or bad idea - as in, do we end up with a concentrated population that might spread the disease faster, or do we save the species by separating it from their wild cousins?

Often complicated, rather than illegal. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/deer-farmin...

While driving through Texas after the total eclipse, my wife and I were reading about the high fences on Texas ranches (deer hunting ranches, possibly with managed breeding), and enjoyed this article on the tradeoffs https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/which-side-of-the-f...