A giant truffle sold for $35,000 recently. Truffles are gorgeous things - ugly, but amazing tasting. They are almost impossible to describe, though a friend once described them of tasting of sex (he meant it in a good way ;-) ).

In the autumn, eveyone goes out mushroom-picking, but only those with specially-trained truffle dogs go truffle-hunting. There are truffle festivals all over the place (though the Sasso Marconi Tartufest has just finished). You can try truffle omelets, tagliatelle with truffle sauce and truffle lasagna and can buy fresh and jarred truffles and truffle oil.

You can usually get away with spending less than $35,000 thankfully...