The hunt for tartufo

I headed to Alba, the epicenter for Italian black and (when in season) white truffles. I was fully prepared to get knee deep in muck following pigs around as they snorted down the delectable fungi, but I didn't have to do much mucking around. It seems that the Italians have found a cleaner (and less smelly) way to find the tartufo. They use dogs. The pigs, it seems, act as pigs do and while they snort, they also tend to mangle. Dogs, on the other hand, are daintier and less prone to trample the rare mushrooms which can cost a (caution: hyperbole ahead) gazillion dollars an ounce. In the end, I found it was easier to find the truffles without the help of any animal and just walked in to a store.