Can we stop glorifying truffle?
They sit giggling at the table. Phones at the ready to film the waiter, Salt Bae-style, shaving some truffle over their pasta, freshly stirred in a wheel of cheese. Heart, drooling and cheering emojis don’t even come close. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t really get the truffle hype.
‘WHAT?!’ is the standard response when I express my moderate feelings about this ‘diamond of the kitchen’. ‘There’s something wrong with you, truffle is amazing!’ is what I invariably hear. Even in the newsroom—where we usually agree with one another—they look at me in disbelief: ‘How can you not want to be part of team truffle?’ Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the flavour itself, at most I find it a tad overrated at two thousand euros a kilo. But above all, I don’t understand why it suddenly has to be on, in and alongside everything.
Far too much truffle
Seriously, E-VERY-WHERE. Truffle ice cream, truffle pizza, truffle cocktails, truffle crisps, truffle fries, truffle lobster, truffle salad, truffle steak, truffle mayo, truffle egg, truffle tapenade, truffle cheese, truffle hummus, truffle pie; does anything still exist without truffle?!
And why so much of it? Sure, a drop of good (!) truffle oil in your pasta or a little truffle over your risotto can add a wonderfully earthy flavour. But why mix those tubs of truffle (often flavouring, by the way, which contains exactly zero real truffle) into everything? It overwhelms all the other flavours and aromas, and the aftertaste lingers for hours.
Deliciously luxurious
Okay, perhaps I’m one of those people who is (overly) sensitive to the flavour and aroma, but honestly: would truffle be just as popular if it had a less exclusive and luxurious image? Is it the oyster effect? The idea that, for a brief moment, you belong to the happy few? That you can imagine yourself living in luxury, even if you’re on the sofa with a bag of three-euro truffle crisps. Or do people genuinely like it so much that they simply want it on, in and alongside everything? I have no idea. What I do know is this: call me odd, but I’d rather watch this hype from a distance. Because honestly, those jubilant truffle lovers are entertaining.
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