The ultimate truffle true crime tale A thrilling journey through the hidden underworld of the worlds most prized luxury ingredient. Bianca Bosker New York Times bestselling author of Cork Dork Beneath the gloss of star chefs and crystalladen tables the truffle supply chain is touched by theft secrecy sabotage and fraud. Farmers patrol their fields with rifles and fear losing trade secrets to spies. Hunters plant poisoned meatballs to eliminate rival trufflehunting dogs. Naive buyers and even knowledgeable experts are duped by liars and counterfeits. Deeply reported and elegantly written this pageturning expos documents the dark sometimes deadly crimes at each level of the truffles path from ground to plate making sense of an industry that traffics in scarcity seduction and cash. Through it all a question lingers What other than money draws people to these dirtcovered jewels Praise for The Truffle Underground Investigative journalist and firsttime author Jacobs does a remarkable job reporting from the front lines of the truffle industry bringing to vivid life French blacktruffle farmers Italian whitetruffle foragers and their marvelously welltrained dogs.Booklist starred review In The Truffle Underground Ryan Jacobs presents a lively expos of the truffle industry reporting on the crimes that haunt the whole supply chain. . . . Even if truffles are beyond your pay grade there is plenty of enjoyment to be had in the sheer devilment portrayed in this informative and appetizing book.The Wall Street Journal Youll never look at truffle fries the same way after reading this book. . . . You can practically smell the soil as you follow truffle farmers and bandits through the groves and fields of France and Italy where the fungi are harvested and stolen.Outside Five Favorite Summer Reads The book is a rigorously reported carefully written endlessly interesting immersion in a highstakes subculture.San Francisco Chronicle Jacobs takes us on an eyeopening journey through the priz