The hunt for the white truffle

Pursuits - The hunt for the white truffle: "The hunt for the white truffle
August 4, 1999
Web posted at: 4:31 p.m. EDT (2031 GMT)

By Arthur Boehm

(Los Angeles Times Syndicate) -- It is fall in the Langhe, the Italian hill-country south of Alba, and the air itself smells of truffles.

The scent -- elusive but penetrating, redolent of ground and wood and vaguely garlicky -- catches you unawares, and like the dishes the truffle perfumes, permeates the senses rapturously."