Hong Kong-based writer Richard Cook and photographer Marcus Oleniuk have chronicled the journey of the white truffle 'from Italian earth to Hong Kong table' in their recently released book, Il Tartufo d'Oro. The two were in Italy at last year's white-truffle auction - which had satellite links with London and Hong Kong - when bidders at Toscana, in the Ritz-Carlton, Central, made a record-making bid of HK$863,000 for a 1.2kg white truffle. The record was broken - again at Toscana - at this year's auction, which saw Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung and Lady Ivy Wu Kwok Sau-ping make the winning bid of HK$1.25 million for a 1.5kg truffle. Filled with black-and-white photos, the book covers the hunt for the elusive fungus - at night, and in great secrecy - by truffle hunters and their dogs, which, with their keen sense of smell, sniff out the underground truffles. The book also takes us to Italian markets in which truffles are graded and priced, into dining rooms where the 'white gold' is thinly shaved over dishes, to the auction in Italy and, finally, to Toscana, where chef Umberto Bombana takes possession of the record-breaking truffle and prepares it for its buyers. Il Tartufo d'Oro is available for HK$320 at local bookstores.
