The world's most expensive foodstuff frankly doesn't look like much. Shapeless, wart-like and creamy in colour, varying in dimensions between the size of a walnut and a cricket ball, the pungent smell isn't exactly fragrant, either, conjuring up images of sweaty gymnasiums and socks that need to go in the wash. But the taste? Well, that's something else entirely.
White truffles are the most prized ingredients for the world’s greatest chefs, and we are now entering the season during which they are harvested. Boars are no longer used in Italy for tracking down truffles, which grow underground, because they try to eat them and they damage the soil in which they grow. So, like sniffer dogs trained to find explosives at airports, hounds now track the unmistakable scent of ripe truffles (if they’re dug up too soon, they have none of their famous flavour).
The labour-intensive process of finding, cleaning and shipping them while fresh goes some way in explaining why they can cost many thousands of dirhams per kilo. But in reality, it's their rarity that keeps prices in the stratosphere – annual harvests once yielded more than 2,000 tonnes, but these days it varies between 25 and 150 tonnes.
Truffles, in fact, are so valuable that they often end up in the hands of unscrupulous dealers and black market criminals in Italy. Next week, in true Dubai fashion, the city is hoping to set a world record for the price of a single truffle, at an auction on Saturday in Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre.
It will be the first time that a sale of this kind has taken place in the region. The proceeds of the auction will be donated to Al Jalila Foundation, a not-for-profit philanthropic organisation established by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to fund medical research.
The auction will be held concurrently in three places: Hong Kong, Dubai and Alba, the Piedmont town in northern Italy that is famed around the world for producing the finest quality white truffles. The Dubai event starts at 4pm and is expected to raise half a million euros (Dh2.13 million) for Al Jalila.
So what will the winning bidder enjoy, apart from the honour of owning the world’s most expensive ingredient? According to organisers, selected personalities will be invited to take part in the auction, in which five truffles will go under the hammer. Winners will enjoy a meal for eight people, prepared and served in a Dubai restaurant by celebrity chefs, including Gary Rhodes. Each of the three sales locations – linked by satellite – will sell five, with one final, “signature” truffle sold from Grinzane Cavour Castle, the Alba location.
Last year’s auction, which teamed Philadelphia and Hong Kong with Alba, sold a twin truffle weighing 1.17 kilograms to Chinese chef Zhenxiang Dong, who paid the equivalent of Dh435,000 for it.
Why, though, would anyone part with such a significant sum of money for a foodstuff that needs to be consumed within a couple of days of it being pulled out of the ground, lest it go off?
“Charity donations are tax-deductible,” says Massimo Vidoni, a man obsessed by the fungal delicacy, having styled himself as “Dubai’s Truffle Man”. Italian, talkative and with an impressive 52,400 followers on Instagram, Vidoni, or @trufflemandubai, is the go-to expert on truffles and other gourmet ingredients found in Italian cuisine, having created a thriving import business that is now a vital part of the UAE’s Italian community.
“It’s a great way for companies to give to good causes,” he says. “It’s fun and it allows people with a taste for the finer things in life to enjoy the ultimate luxury in cooking, while helping others.” Put like this, it makes perfect sense; events such as this do shine a useful spotlight on the work done by the country’s generous philanthropists.
Truffles are rare and precious commodities that are in danger of being sullied by a number of seemingly unstoppable factors: the environmental damage being done to areas where they have traditionally grown (you can, in fact, find them growing in the Middle East if the conditions are right), as they cannot be “farmed” in the traditional sense. The other threat is the Chinese truffle, which is widely regarded as being vastly inferior in flavour. “They taste like cardboard,” says Vidoni, shaking his head.
These truffles are harvested without the use of dogs; instead armies of people rake up the earth and exhume them, with no idea whether or not they are ripe. When truffles are at their peak in flavour and aroma, dogs pick up on the scent, as the truffles emit certain spores when finally ripened. The result of this practice is, unsurprisingly, an influx of poor-quality imitations that damage the truffle’s reputation.
Prices do reflect this – Chinese truffles fetch only a fraction of the prices of their French, Italian and, now, Australian, counterparts. Problems surface when unscrupulous dealers conceal them into batches of the real McCoy, essentially diluting the exquisite flavours that the world’s keenest restaurant patrons are so desperate to experience.
That won't be an issue for the winners of this upcoming auction, however, with the region's finest Italian chefs overseeing every step of the process. Vidoni hands around an example of one of his imported white truffles to assembled diners in the Casa Mia Italian restaurant at Le Méridien. People take turns breathing in its aroma, although many appear to be far from keen.
That all changes, however, when a main course of homemade linguini is served, with paper-thin shavings of the lumpy fungus liberally sprinkled on top. An explosion of nutty, aromatic flavours has everyone addicted and, suddenly, the appeal of this culinary diamond becomes crystal clear. There’s nothing else quite like it – no wonder worldwide demand outstrips supply by a factor of 50. Now, where’s that rake and hound?
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Read more:
A chat with Richard Sandoval, the chef who brought Toro Toro to Abu Dhabi
Three easy brunch ideas to try at home
A different dining experience: 8 cooking classes to try in the UAE
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
England squad
Joe Root (captain), Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes (vice-captain), Moeen Ali, Liam Dawson, Toby Roland-Jones, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm
Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
Company%20profile
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Jawan
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Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
Global institutions: BlackRock and KKR
US-based BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $5.98 trillion of assets under management as of the end of last year. The New York firm run by Larry Fink provides investment management services to institutional clients and retail investors including governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, banks and charitable foundations around the world, through a variety of investment vehicles.
KKR & Co, or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is a global private equity and investment firm with around $195 billion of assets as of the end of last year. The New York-based firm, founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, invests in multiple alternative asset classes through direct or fund-to-fund investments with a particular focus on infrastructure, technology, healthcare, real estate and energy.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 310hp
Torque: 366Nm
Price: Dh200,000
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Los Angeles, from Dh4,975 return, including taxes. The flight time is 16 hours. Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Aeromexico and Southwest all fly direct from Los Angeles to San Jose del Cabo from Dh1,243 return, including taxes. The flight time is two-and-a-half hours.
The trip
Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic’s eight-day Whales Wilderness itinerary costs from US$6,190 (Dh22,736) per person, twin share, including meals, accommodation and excursions, with departures in March and April 2018.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Sri Lanka's T20I squad
Thisara Perera (captain), Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Ashan Priyanjan, Mahela Udawatte, Dasun Shanaka, Sachith Pathirana, Vikum Sanjaya, Lahiru Gamage, Seekkuge Prasanna, Vishwa Fernando, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay and Chathuranga de Silva.
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
