Truffles, as in the tuber kind. Truffles thrust me into a gastronomic divide–life before truffles, and life after truffles. French epicure and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once referred to truffles as “the diamond of the kitchen.” They are so valuable that people are employed as French Truffle Inspectors due to the presence of imposter truffles on the market. So valuable, in fact, that people will kill for them. Black truffles cost roughly $1000 per pound while white truffles straight from Alba demand an even steeper $6000-$10000 per pound. I was fortunate to experience these delicacies for the first time when I was fairly young. I was with my parents in…