All I can say is, I’m sorry Hector. When you booked your overnight, first class couchette from Milan to Paris you were probably hoping that you would have the wardrobe-sized compartment to yourself. No such luck comrade. At 23.50 in I tumbled, boxing his ears with my case of Barbaresco wine as I scrambled into the tiny top bunk to begin a tug of war with my hiking boots. The whole compartment soon filled with two pungent smells; the farmyard aroma from my cache of Tuber Magnatum (white truffles) and the equally strong stink of my socks. It had been a busy weekend and I had been so occupied pursuing the former that I haven’t had chance to change the latter.
The sweet earthy smell came from the two plum-sized truffles in my rucksack that I had bought at the Fiera del Tartufo Bianco d’Alba, the annual white truffle fair in Alba, Piedmont in North Western Italy. My gourmet friends back in London were in for a treat and as we chugged across the French border I dozed off dreaming of white truffle flakes falling on a giant field of fresh pasta.
Miraculously Hector survived the night and even had the grace to chat to me as we entered Paris in the morning. He asked why I had taken the train when it would have been so much easier to fly? Well, besides the guilt of pumping out carbon emissions in my pursuit of aristocratic fungi, the modern day torture of airport security systems (those precious bottles of Barbaresco would have been bounced straight into the hold) I had thought it more appropriate to travel to the home of the Slow Food movement by a more sedate, civilised form of transport. Hector nodded with the mask of someone pretending to listen to traffic directions and then diplomatically suggested that next time I travel with such a precious cargo as Tuber Magnatum perhaps it would be safer to have a carriage just for myself.
Travelling by train for truffles in Piedmont can be easier and cheaper than you would expect, especially if you save the cost of a hotel bed by taking a sleeper train. You can leave London in the late afternoon, change in Paris and have a three course dinner and an early nights sleep on your way to Milan. Then take a morning transfer and be in Turin in time for a hot chocolate breakfast before eight a.m. From Turin the best way to get to the Alba Truffle Fair or to tour the foodie towns of the Langhe is to hire a car. Although if you are a rail purist with a little patience it is possible to do it all by local train.
The white truffle fair takes place every weekend during October in the robust hill town of Alba. It gives the people of the Langhe area another excuse to indulge in their favourite pastime of sampling good food and wine, and believe me if you thought that Jamie Oliver was focussed on his grub wait until you see the natives of South Piedmont in action. During the early autumn weekends central Alba becomes one giant food bonanza so that which ever way you approach the truffle fair in Coro della Maddalena (Maddalena courtyard) you have to pass cliffs of handmade chocolate, glaciers of nougat and gallons of great wine all crying out to be tasted.
The actual truffle stalls are in the inner sanctum of a covered market (admittance 2 euros) and visiting it is more akin to entering a fashion show than a food fair. Behind the glamorous promotional girls at the foyer there are huge photographs of celebrities sniffing the famous fungi. All the usual suspects are up there, Depardieu, Pavarotti, Sophie Loren and oddly Calvin Klein who despite being the king of cool still cannot make the large truffle he’s staring at look the least bit attractive.
Once inside there’s even more mountains of local goodies to march past till at last you get to the twenty or so stalls selling the precious white fungus. The truffles are laid out like prize marbles on blue gingham under clear plastic salvers - designed to keep the sweet scent in and prodding fingers out. The irregular shaped fungi are all the colour of moonlight and range in size from small cherries (approx 20 euros) to large King Edward potatoes (250 euros and rising)
There is good-humoured atmosphere of a comic opera in the market complete with stallholders in faux hunting gear, white helmeted policeman and Armani suited officials from the Cento Nazionale Studi Tertufo to adjudicate on quality.
Within the crowd you can spot the big players, extrovert chefs and rich restaurateurs parading around doing deals. Not quite the frenzy of a trading floor, but as exciting as buying and selling fungi gets.
When the festival was first held in 1923 (special half price train tickets from Milan and Asti helped establish the promotional event) October was still a reasonable month for truffle hauls and November deemed too foggy for visitors to find their way there. Now global warming and dry summers has pushed the truffle season later in the year to November, December and even January. Traditions have to be upheld and visitors entertained but there can’t be a truffle fair without truffles so rumours abound that the best fungi on show have been brought in from Tuscany (gasp) or worst still, Slovenia. (double gasp and a ‘mamma mia’)
Until the local committee takes the sensible step and moves the event to later in the year you might be better off waiting until the last weekend of the fair to visit (usually the start of November) or even forsaking the spectacle all together and visit in later in the month when you can buy decent local truffles from one of the towns excellent delicatessens. You would miss the feeding frenzy of the food fair but heaven knows you won’t ever go short of a decent bite to eat in Alba
The 77th National White Truffle Fair of Alba starts in the first weekend of October 2007. The fair traditionally closes with an international truffle auction at Castillo di Grinzane Cavour (invitation only) just outside Alba. Last year a 1.59 kg truffle broke all records andsold for £84, 618 . that is £53,214 per kilo - four times the average price for gold . www.fieradeltartufo.org for festival details
The night before my visit to the truffle fair I went out tramping the woods until 3.00am with veteran truffle hunter Giuseppe Giamesio and his dog Mara. We had pleasant moonlit stroll but found no fungi. It is hard for human noses to detect the scent of truffles growing in the ground under oak trees so specially trained dogs (never pigs in Piedmont) are used to try to locate the fungi. There is lot of lore and mystery associated with gathering the white diamonds - as the truffles are known locally and a trip out with a trifolau (truffle hunter) gives you a good introduction to their arcane world. But truffle hunting isn’t an exact science and doesn’t come with a guarantee so don’t expect to pay for your trip with a find.
Finding rooms in Alba during the festival is difficult but luckily there is an excellent alternative for gourmands in the nearby town of Bra. The Slow Food - a movement dedicated to the appreciation of good local foods began in Bra and now the Pollenzo complex on the outskirts of the town is it’s unofficial headquarters. The Neo Gothic complexincludes the Hotel Albergo dell’Agenzia, the first University of Gastronomy, Guido, a Michelin starred restaurant, and a unique wine bank containing some of the finest Barolos and Barbarescos ever produced. www.albergoagenzia.it telephone 0039 0172 458645
Three out of five – The truffle fair and the train journey and goodvalue but the truffle hunting overated.
At Trenitalia, www.italiarail.co.uk. Telephone 08700 84 14 14. you can book both stages of the train journey to Turin (Port Susa) on one website with the advantage of incurring only one credit card anddelivery charge. Return tickets from London Waterloo to Turin start as £139 – overnight in a 6 berth couchette (yes sleeping with strangers) and rising to £477 for first class travel including overnight in a single sleeper (Hector’s preferred choice)
www.seat61.com gives an excellent overview for booking and planning your trip to Italy by train
Bellini Travel combine truffle hunting with visits to Alba or the annual white truffle festival in the medieval town of Moncalvo .They can plan your individual itineraries and offer a range of accommodation from a former monastery to the home of truffle hunter. For more informationvisit www.bellinitravel.com or telephone +44 (0)20 7602 7602. A truffle hunting package with three nights stay and dinner starts from £350 per person
Most hotels and agritourism stays around Alba will be able to arrange excursions with an experienced truffle hunter or you can simply ask at the local tourist office. They will be able to put you in touch with a trusted trifolau who usually charge by the hour. The National Truffle Study centre provides hunts for group of up to 25 people that cost 160euroswww.tuber.it
For more information on the Piemonte region visit www.piemontefeel.it or call 00800 66677700