Luxury foods: explaining cause and effect

B2
90 min
Premium
1

Think about these questions before watching. Share your ideas with a partner.

  1. Think about a time you splurged on a special food item or meal. What was the occasion, and did the experience live up to your expectations?
  2. Besides the price tag, what qualities do you think make a food item a 'luxury'? Consider factors like how it's produced, its rarity, or the skill required to prepare it.
  3. Some people believe certain luxury foods are completely overrated. Can you think of an example of a pricey food that you believe isn't worth the hype, and how would you justify your opinion?
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Watch the video carefully. Pay attention to the main ideas and key details.

Video script129 segments · click a timestamp to jump

Luxury cousins of the mushroom,

truffles are an indulgent food enjoyed across the world.

But these fragrant fungi will cost you.

In 2014, the world's largest white truffle was flown

to New York accompanied by a security guard

and sold at auction for $61,000.

Discovered in Italy, this gigantic fungus

weighed almost 2 kilos.

So, what is it that makes them so expensive?

There are a lot of types of truffle.

There are at least 40 species, many of which aren't edible,

and new species have been discovered as recently as 2018.

You've probably seen luxury truffle products

in supermarkets or fancy restaurants,

but the unique truffle flavor you recognize

might not be real truffle at all.

Cheap truffle oil often hasn't been

anywhere near a real truffle.

Many cheaper truffle products use 2,4-dithiapentane,

a synthesized compound containing one

of the main aromatic components of foot odor,

guaranteed to give it that "earthy" taste.

Real truffles are seasonal and pricey,

with a short shelf life.

They were originally sniffed out using truffle pigs,

but while pigs are very good at finding truffles,

they're also very good at eating them, too.

And these days, dogs are much more common

truffle-hunting companions.

These fungi can be found across the world,

but they all require a very specific climate to grow.

While different varieties may have

somewhat different requirements, one thing is certain.

You can't have truffles without trees.

James Feaver: Truffles are always found with trees,

and they have to be the right type of trees.

Under the ground, the truffle is just the fruiting body,

so an equivalent to an apple.

And we've also got a lot of then what we call

the mycelium, microscopic-level threads,

and up to 100 meters in a teaspoon of soil.

And this mycelium is actually attached to the roots

of a tree like the fingers of glove onto a hand.

And it sort of extends the reach of the tree out.

And it actually takes up water and nutrients

and passes them to the tree, and the tree gives it sugars

in return, so to help the truffles, the fruit, develop.

Narrator: Even when you have exactly the right conditions,

truffles aren't guaranteed,

and hunting them is a labor-intensive process.

Once you know where to look, you have to sniff out

and dig up each truffle by hand,

and they can be tricky to find.

Feaver: Good boy, thank you, good boy, come!

So he just told us there it's still in the ground.

So do I want to take it out of the ground or not?

It all depends on if it's ripe.

If it's unripe, there's no point in having it.

So the nose comes into play.

And we actually sniff the ground for it.

Narrator: It may take a while,

but finding a good one can make it worth the work.

Feaver: Yeah, that's a nice one.

Yeah, that's probably about

70, 80 grams.

Narrator: Truffles also have a short season,

often appearing for only a few months of the year.

And even when you do get your hands on them,

they don't last for long.

Feaver: An unripe truffle, unlike a tomato,

which you could cut from the vine

and ripen on your windowsill,

once the truffle is out of the ground, the clock is ticking.

So it's just sort of slowly gonna degrade over time.

So we want to get it out to the customers nice and fast.

Narrator: After just five days out of the ground,

that pungent truffle smell will have halved.

You can farm many truffle varieties,

besides the rare Italian whites.

Many people have been successful

in setting up truffle orchards, but it's not easy.

Trees need to be planted in the right soil conditions,

inoculated with truffle fungus,

and often irrigated constantly.

It can take as long as six years

before you get a good truffle harvest,

and there's no guarantee that the fungi will grow at all.

So after all that effort, what do they actually taste like?

Ju Shardlow: Ooh.

Claudia Romeo: Hm.

Leon Siciliano: The smell just made me think

it was gonna be really strong.

The flavor is actually quite subtle.

There's a nuttiness there.

There's, like, an earthy flavor there.

Ju: Actually quite light and fragrant.

It tastes a lot nicer than it smells.

It smells like damp socks.

Claudia: That's good.

I mean, this is the first time I've actually eaten

a truffle by itself.

You know, it's a bit like mushroom,

but it's more of a meaty, meaty bite.

Narrator: These days, farming has taken over

as our primary source of truffles,

and today, 70% of the world's truffles are cultivated.

Through the loss of woodland and climate change,

the number of wild truffles has decreased significantly.

Since the 19th century, production in France has fallen

from over 1,000 tonnes a season to just 30 tonnes.

And climate change could mean that truffles will disappear

altogether in the future.

Feaver: The weather conditions are so important,

not just immediately, over the whole season.

We're getting much lower numbers

and much lower average size.

A truffle is about 70% water,

so it needs rainfall to help it grow.

Some UK truffle scientists are thinking

that your traditional areas,

the climate is gonna move further north,

and they're not gonna have a truffle industry

within I think perhaps 50 years.

There's threats, there's opportunities,

but rain, we do need rain.

When we get a dry summer,

the holidaymakers, they're delighted,

but I keep crossing my fingers

for a bit of rain every now and again.

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Answer these questions in your own words. Support your answers with evidence from the video.

01According to the video, what is often used to create the flavor in cheaper truffle products?
Sample answerThe video explains that many cheaper products don't use real truffles. Instead, they use a synthesized chemical compound to create that 'earthy' flavor, which is also found in foot odor.
02In what way do truffles and trees have a mutually beneficial relationship?
Sample answerIt's a symbiotic relationship. The truffle's underground network helps the tree absorb more water and nutrients from the soil, and in exchange, the tree gives the truffle sugars that help it grow.
03Why is it so important for a truffle hunter to check if a truffle is ripe before digging it up?
Sample answerIt's crucial because, unlike a tomato, a truffle stops developing once it's taken out of the ground. If it's unripe, it will never become ripe, so it would be pointless to harvest it. Also, its strong smell disappears quickly, so it has to be perfect when picked.
04How is climate change affecting the future of both wild and cultivated truffles?
Sample answerClimate change is a major threat. Wild truffle numbers have already dropped a lot. The video says truffles are 70% water, so they need rain to grow. With hotter, drier summers, they are becoming smaller and less common. Scientists even think traditional truffle-growing areas in Europe might disappear within 50 years as the climate shifts north.
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Key vocabulary for explaining value

Vocabulary
These expressions will help you discuss the reasons behind the cost and appeal of luxury items more precisely.
Examples
To command a high price — to be sold for a large amount of money because it is rare or of very high quality.
Usage note: this is a semi-formal collocation often used in business or economic contexts. For example, 'Hand-harvested foods often command a high price.'
An acquired taste — something that people only begin to like after they have tried it a few times.
Usage note: use this idiom to describe foods, hobbies, or styles that are not immediately appealing to everyone. For example, 'The strong, earthy flavor of truffles can be an acquired taste.'
Labor-intensive — describes a task or process that requires a lot of physical work and human effort.
Usage note: this adjective is often used to explain high costs or long production times. Common collocations include 'a labor-intensive process' or 'labor-intensive agriculture'.
To stem from — to be the result or main cause of something.
Usage note: this phrasal verb is a great alternative to 'is caused by' when explaining reasons or origins. For example, 'The high cost stems from their rarity and the difficulty of harvesting them.'
A contributing factor — one of several reasons or things that helps to cause something to happen.
Usage note: this phrase is useful for making complex arguments, as it acknowledges that there is often more than one cause. For example, 'A short shelf life is a contributing factor to the high price of truffles.'
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Decide if each statement is true or false. Correct the false ones.

01Pigs are still the most common animal used for truffle hunting because of their excellent sense of smell.
02The powerful aroma of a truffle significantly diminishes within a week of being harvested.
03The majority of truffles available on the global market today are farmed rather than found in the wild.
04It typically takes about six months for a newly planted truffle orchard to start producing a good harvest.
05Wild truffle production in France has dramatically decreased since the 19th century.
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Complete the sentences with words from the box. One word is extra.

Word bank
01Because it is only harvested for a few weeks each year, this particular type of saffron a very high price on the global market.
02Many people find the strong, salty flavor of caviar to be an taste, but it's considered a delicacy by connoisseurs.
03The process of harvesting vanilla beans by hand is extremely , which is one reason why real vanilla is so costly.
04The unique flavor profile of this aged cheese directly the specific type of bacteria used during its fermentation process.
05The specific climate is a major factor in the quality of these grapes, but the soil composition also plays a crucial role.
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Choose the best answer based on what you heard in the video.

01According to the video, why have dogs become the preferred animal for truffle hunting?
02What detail does the video provide about the world's largest white truffle sold in 2014?
03Based on the taste test in the video, how was the flavor of the fresh truffle described?
04Which of the following aspects of truffles is NOT discussed in the video?
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Explaining the cost of luxury

Many factors contribute to the high price of luxury foods. Can you connect the cause with the effect?

Match the beginning of each sentence on the left with its correct ending on the right.

Drag or click to match
Definitions
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Discuss these questions with a partner. Try to use vocabulary from the lesson.

  1. The video mentions that many cheaper truffle products are synthetic. To what extent do you think creating affordable, synthetic versions of luxury foods is a positive development for consumers and the food industry?
  2. The difficulty of harvesting truffles is a contributing factor to their cost. Can you think of a food from your country that commands a high price because its production is particularly labor-intensive or requires a specific environment?
  3. Many luxury foods are considered an acquired taste. Do you believe the appeal of these foods stems from their unique flavor, or is the high price and exclusivity a contributing factor in why people learn to enjoy them?