Fiera Del Tartufo Bianco D'Alba

I managed to catch the last day of the annual white truffle festival in the city of Alba that weekend in Piemonte. It was a rainy Sunday, but lots of people were out and about to visit the exhibition and stalls featuring this luxury food. The white truffles of Alba are valued for their powerful yet extraordinarily delicate aroma. They are expensive because production is highly limited. They grow solely in the wild and fluctuations in weather conditions can play havoc with their reproduction and growth.

Well, I had my first taste of the white truffle at the festival, a tiny sample of a tartufo cream spread on a cracker. The smell and taste was... really strong and... intoxicating almost. I think it's impossible to describe it without actually tasting it yourself. Actually, the strong smell reminded me of our tropical King of Fruit - the Durian. Well, not quite the same, but supposedly you can perfume uncooked rice just by storing the truffle in a bag of rice.

The festival itself was quite interesting. There were a bunch of truffle hunters in the middle of the floor, displaying their own prized findings. They all looked really serious about the whole deal.

Then I tried to take a picture of a truffle. The vendor insisted that I hold it in my hand for size comparison. I declined... especially since he had just pointed out that this particular nugget was worth 750 euro! Hmm, I wanted to avoid and pricey 'accidents'. I did end up getting the picture, but with the vendor holding it instead.It was a very interesting day, seeing first hand the obsession with this unique mushroom.

And here is a quote that I found, which is probably quite true...
"There are two types of people who eat truffles: those who think truffles are good because they are dear and those who know they are dear because they are good."J.L. Vaudoyer