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What’s Lucrezia got to do with it?

By morel delimma ⋅ February 28, 2007 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

“During the Renaissance, the absence of truffles from the tables of the mighty would have been an inadmissible embarrassment, and their chefs were under relentless pressure to present them with ingenuity and élan. The custom of the truffle tribute arose. In 1502, the nobles of the Marchigian region of Aquamagna made a gift of stupendous black truffles to Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI. The redoubtable Lucrezia, for whose golden tresses long curly pastas were named, was very well pleased indeed, and lost no time incorporating the truffles into her beauty routine – history does not say exactly how.”

Shrooming in Late Capitalism: The Way of the Truffle is one of the most entertaining, well-written, and complete articles about the truffle that I’ve seen. Enjoy!