Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous

Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate

1 Warmer
a. Underline the words that are true for you. You can add your own answers.

My favourite …
• pizza toppings are: cheese, ham, salami, vegetables, olives, mushrooms, ________________________
• sandwich fillings are: cheese, chicken, tomato, cucumber, avocado, ________________________
• types of popcorn are: salty, sweet, caramel, cheese, ________________________

b. Compare your answers.

c. Would you like to eat any of the foods in task a. with truffles?

truffle – a fungus that grows under the ground and is very expensive to buy because people consider
it a special food

2 Key words
Match the key words with the definitions. Then find them in the article to read them in context. The
paragraph numbers will help you.

ubiquitous luxury savoury gourmet flavour

1. available and present everywhere ________________________ (title)

2. tasting of salt or spices and not sweet ________________________ (para 1)

3. the particular taste that food or drink has ________________________ (para 1)

4. something expensive that you enjoy but do not really need ________________________ (para 1)

5. very high quality food ________________________ (para 2)

afford ancient artificial storage orchard

6. a building or place where lots of things can be kept ________________________ (para 3)

7. an area of land where fruit trees are grown ________________________ (para 4)

8. from a time thousands of years ago ________________________ (para 5)

9. have enough money to pay for something ________________________ (para 6)

10. made by people in a laboratory; not natural ________________________ (para 7)

D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Springer Nature Limited 2019. Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group.
M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O

NEWS LESSONS / Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
CA O
H
•P
Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
Truffle chips, truffle pizza, truffle
popcorn … how a luxury item
became ubiquitous
Clare Finney
23 May, 2019
1 The smell is a mix of petrol, garlic, mushroom
and warm earth after rain, followed by peppery
olive oil. Next you get a deep, savoury flavour.
This is what luxury tastes like. I am on the sofa, in
my pyjamas, watching Netflix and eating a snack
that most Italian chefs would hate:
truffle popcorn.
2 My truffle popcorn is handmade in London by
“gourmet popcorn” company Joe & Sephs. This
is one of the newest everyday truffle foods. Ten
years ago, the truffle was an imagined treat: I had
smelled it but had never eaten it. In the
past two weeks, I’ve had truffle pizza, truffle
mashed potato, truffle popcorn and truffle
macaroni cheese.
3 “The people who love truffles really, really love
them,” says Jess Seaton of Crate brewery.
People travel for miles and miles to east London
to eat her sage, potato and truffle pizza. Spanish
food company, Brindisa, has recently bought
extra storage space for its very popular Torres
truffle crisps. Street food outlet Sub-Cult, which
became famous for its portobello mushroom
sandwich with truffle mayonnaise, has opened its
first restaurant in the City of London.
4 Outside of London, you can find truffle macaroni
cheese in Birmingham, truffle fries and truffle
mashed potatoes in Liverpool and a black truffle
base pizza in Brighton. Waitrose supermarket are
selling so many truffle products that it has planted
its own black truffle orchard. In Waitrose, you can
now buy different cheeses with truffles, as well as
Joe and Seph’s popcorn and truffle crisps.
© Springer Nature Limited 2019. Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group.
NEWS LESSONS / Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
5 For thousands of years, the truffle, particularly the
white winter truffle, has been a luxury food item.
The ancient Greeks called it the food of the gods.
6 In 2018, white winter truffles cost between £1,783
and £2,229 a kilo. The cheaper black truffles cost
around £750 a kilo. Truffle farms – where hazel
and oak trees are injected with the black-truffle
fungus – have increased the number of truffles
available, but it takes ten years for the first truffles
to be ready. So how can crisp and popcorn
makers afford to make truffle-flavoured snacks?
7 Truffle oil is the reason, together with its key
ingredient: artificial flavouring. It’s no secret that
chefs and producers use truffle oil. It is on menus
and the backs of food packets. But truffle oil’s
flavour does not come from the small pieces of
truffle you can see inside the bottle, it comes from
the added artificial flavouring.
8 Although truffle’s natural flavour sticks to animal
fats, it does not stick to plant oils such as olive
oil. The piece of black truffle you find in a bottle of
truffle oil is there so that the producers can legally
write “truffle” on the label.
9 There is nothing wrong with it, but it’s a question
of honesty. People think that the piece of black
truffle gives the flavour to the oil, but black truffle
doesn’t smell or taste like that. But even if truffle
oil is artificial, “the flavour is earthy and natural. It
feels real,” says food expert Morgaine Gaye.
10 “Truffles have that savoury taste you get in miso
and tahini,” Gaye says. “Many people these days
prefer more exotic, savoury flavours to sweet
flavours. The development of products with truffle
flavours mean that this flavour is now available
to everyone.”
© Guardian News and Media 2019
First published in The Guardian, 23/05/19
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA
M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O
CA O
H
•P
 Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
3 Comprehension check
Underline the correct words in italics to make each sentence true.

1. Truffles are a luxury / cheap food item.

2. Truffles are a very modern / ancient food item.
3. The truffle flavour in oil comes / doesn’t come from the piece of truffle in the bottle.
4. Truffles take a long time to grow / grow very quickly.
5. Many supermarkets now sell everyday foods with a truffle flavour / colour.
6. The most expensive truffles are the white / black truffles.
7. Truffles and truffle-flavoured foods taste artificial / earthy and natural.
8. Truffles have become popular because people like their sweet / savoury taste.

4 Using the key words

Use the key words to complete these sentences

gourmet flavour storage orchard afford

1. Farmers often grow truffles in an ________________________.

2. That milk shake has a very strong ________________________ of bananas.

3. Put that back! You know that we can’t ________________________ it.

4. We went out for a ________________________ dinner on my birthday.

5. There is a lot of ________________________ space in the garage.

5 Discussion
• Highlight all the food items and combinations in the article.
o Which of them would you like or not like to try?

• What food items that were not available in the past do you now buy? For example, frozen pizza, exotic
fruit and vegetables, …
o Can you remember when you first tried or bought them?

I ate my first
pizza in 1985. We
didn’t have pizzas When I
here before first bought an
that. aubergine, I didn’t
know how to
cook it.
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Springer Nature Limited 2019. Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group.
M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O

NEWS LESSONS / Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
CA O
H
•P
 Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
6 Research and presentation
Find more information about truffles.

• What do they look like?

• Where do they grow?
• How are they found and collected?
• Why are they so expensive?

D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Springer Nature Limited 2019. Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group.
M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O

NEWS LESSONS / Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
CA O
H
•P
Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
KEY

2 Key words 4 Using the key words

1. ubiquitous 1. orchard
2. savoury 2. flavour
3. flavour 3. afford
4. luxury 4. gourmet
5. gourmet 5. storage
6. storage
7. orchard
8. ancient
9. afford
10. artificial

3 Comprehension check

1. luxury
2. ancient
3. doesn’t come
4. take a long time to grow
5. flavour
6. white
7. earthy and natural
8. savoury

D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Springer Nature Limited 2019. Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group.
M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O

NEWS LESSONS / Truffle: how a luxury item became ubiquitous / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
CA O
H
•P