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Personal vs. Market Values

Take truffle oil. Or truffles. The mushrooms, not the confection.
Honestly I can’t taste it. I’ve ordered all sorts of dishes with "truffle oil" which commanded a premium and if there is any difference at all in the taste I could not tell you even after being told about it.

The point of this is that truffle oil holds no personal value to me. I’m not trading in it or running a restaurant or buying it in bulk. If I did that I’d feel and be willing to spend quite differently than I do now.

The point to this and how this matters in audio is that you should be true to your own ears. Use friends, reviews (cough) and other sources as guides. You may also evaluate a brand based on re-sale value. That’s reasonable as the resale could have a material impact on you in the future.

But if you can’t hear a difference or prefer a speaker/cable/amp no one else does then serve only yourself and your loved ones. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the market value of a particular product has value for you or that it is a display of relative merit. It may not. Our hobby is filled with charlatans selling invisible clothes.

Those who say they can't taste the truffle oil or see invisible clothes spend less and are far happier I think.

Happy listening,

E
erik_squires
n80
2,116 posts
 
I'm a foodie and a fairly serious one. On a recent trip to Italy (to eat and research) I tried truffles several times. For some reason they had just never been on my gastronomic radar. I love mushrooms and morels (which grow on my property). On each occasion it was black truffle (white truffle is more prized) and I was surprised that they really didn't have much flavor for me. I wouldn't call myself a supertaster but in most other things I have a fairly discriminatory palate. My wife, also a foodie, was shocked that I didn't get much from the truffle. I got a vaguely earthy flavor and that was about it.

So for some, it may 'resonate'. For others it may not. I hope to try white truffle (20 euros to have them grated over your dish of pasta at Diana in Bologna!) one of these days.

As others have mentioned, truffle oil is not the best way to test your truffle affinity. It usually contains lower end truffle in any number of lower end oils. Fine for fries but I wouldn't want a fine dish to hinge on truffle oil.
joey_v
663 posts
 
How can someone not taste the truffle oil???

It's very distinct. 
whart's avatar
whart
3,031 posts
 
I have fond memories of a Christmas spent at Columbe d’or in St. Paul de Vence, whose dining room was easy, casual and good on the nights we didn’t feel like "going out" to some of the serious restaurants. Freshly shaved truffles on a tart green salad every night-- I think we stayed for 5 nights before heading north to Paris.
When I got my Amex bill the next month, I realized that each salad was $44 dollars in 2008? money.
Yes, I could taste the truffles. No, I probably wouldn’t spend that for a green salad today.
Morels and sweetbreads are really yummy. Alas, the price of morels is also out of reach for mere mortals. (I think they were upwards of $200/lb at the local gourmet market here in Austin. I asked the storekeep why they were in a bin that anyone could access, having come from NY, where even batteries were under lock and key. He said "if somebody wants to steal fancy mushrooms and put them in their pocket, more power to ’em!" :)
n80
2,116 posts
 
erik, sorry that this has taken a decidedly foodie turn.....but that's not entirely our fault. ;-)

For what its worth I agree with your point completely.

whart, I own 250 acres in central SC. It has a fairly large creek bottom in which we find morels from time to time. Some years they are there, some they are not. One year we found 15-20 over a week's time. We thought that was a great bonanza and fixed them several ways.  Since then, nothing for years until this spring. They popped up everywhere and kept coming up for three or four weeks. We lost count at 60 or so and found many more and missed quite a few that got past maturity.

We ate them so many ways. Gave away quite a few as well. My favorite two ways are lightly fried in a very light tempura and in risotto which I made several times. So good. 

Who knows when we will see them again.




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ncarv
983 posts
 
There is no truffle in truffle oil. It is artificially produced to resemble the taste of truffles. If you’ve ever tasted real truffles, especially white truffle, you have tasted something heavenly . . . and expensive! $6,000/lb++
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