Truffle Oil-ish

There was an article in the New York Times a few weeks ago about synthetic truffle oil, which all truffle oil. Or, as Erik says, it’s a processed food.

We travel with truffle oil (white and black) in our wine bag. I prefer the black, Erik prefers whichever bottle is open. I like to drizzle it on popcorn and potatoes and salad. (It also goes well on a salad of halved quail eggs, roasted figs fava beans and arugula.)

I’m not going to lie to you, I was disappointed to hear that truffle oil is synthetic. But in reading Dan Patterson’s article I found renewed joy in the stuff– mainly because of Patterson’s foodier-than-thou-tone and his proclamation that he discovered truffle oil in the late 90’s. Discovered could, if one were a little more humble, be replaced with introduced to. Ahem.

Patterson makes truffle oil out to be the equivalent of cheez whiz and snubs those chefs who use it even though he himself had used it in his own kitchen before he discovered it was synthetic. Sigh. I am going to assume that Patterson doesn't do made-up things like watch TV dramas or read fiction or drink vodka made from wheat.

Truffle oil is like cheap and cheerful Cotes du Rhone (which is clarified with ox blood)– it tastes good, big and fun. That is what food can be: an experience that isn’t precious.

This whole article smacks of something that we must all fight against: Food as status symbol. Food, in a democratic society, is a joy not a form of superiority. After all, to Patterson, tasted good enough to serve in his restaurant.

However, if a person is so super unhappy with the idea that truffle oil is synthetic they might want to discover truffle salt.