There’s a war happening deep in Albania’s forests. A truffle war
Truffle hunters describe dicey turf wars in the country’s forests, with competitors bullying rivals and ruthlessly targeting their expensive dogs
Threats, poisoned dogs and massacred trees: Albania’s forests are gripped by a war over truffles, the prized and pricey fungi known in this poor European country as “black gold”.
Evgjeni Pano, a 28-year-old truffle hunter, sets off every morning into Albania’s southern mountains with her husband and woolly-haired dogs, Lajka and Boss, who are trained to track down the pungent culinary delights and gently unearth them from beneath the soil.
Pano sells most of the bounty to foreign traders from Italy and France – the traditional provenance of the knobby, subterranean delicacy relished by the world’s gourmands.
The way of life may sound idyllic: a day’s haul of one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of black truffles can bring home 50 euros (US$58). White truffles, a rare and even more highly treasured variety, can be sold for up to 140 euros.
Those are enviable sums in a country where the average monthly salary is below 400 euros, and even lower in rural areas.
But the work is no walk in the park.