Truffles

As evidence of our gradual immersion into the French culture, we have realised that the truffle season runs from December to March. So, seeing a poster for a 'Cavage de truffes', we went off to Rocamadour on Sunday afternoon, not knowing what to expect, maybe some stalls and possibly a display of how they find truffles. Foolish!

Upon arrival we were pleased to find that the afternoon was free entry. Then we met our neighbour Michel who was there with his friend who had a Truffle-hunting dog in the competition. What competition? We found out that about 14 small areas had been marked out and each area was 'seeded' with 5 truffles. There were 13 dogs and 1 pig who were competing to see which was the best at finding the truffles. But they were marked by a Jury on Speed, application, success, and who knows what else. In other words a Truffle equivalent of a Sheepdog Trial.


So, as you can see by the members of the jury, it was all taken very seriously. All, that is, except for the star attraction. The pig! It was apparent that nowadays, not many people use pigs to find truffles. Everyone wanted to see the pig, the 'Maitre de Cochon' and to see the pig working.


We even had the local radio there to interview the pig handler. Once we saw him we realised that he was there to play to the crowd and accept drinks in the bar!

To our surprise our other neighbours JJ and Nadine also turned up, with comments of how we could all have come in one car! We feel that the summer is going to become a french eqivalent of 'Neighbours' with lots of 'street' activities and BBQ's.

I was also interested to see the healthy survival of the 'beret wearer'. Albeit that the gentlemen sporting the berets were of a certain age, it was good to see that the 'flat cap' hasn't totally overcome the traditional beret. And, there was a range of beret styles, as you can see. Would I ever be brave enough to try a beret?