It
was my third trip to Italy. I had spent a lot of time looking at the historical
monuments in Rome, Florence and Venice, on my previous trips. This time, I
wanted to explore the best thing about Italy - food. I had finished exploring
the country side in Tuscany and Naples, and it was now time for my last day in
Italy before I headed home to Germany.
On
my first visit, I once ate an omelet that tasted nothing like it. It was the
most fabulous omelet I had eaten, ever. I quickly made my way to the chef and
enquired about the ingredients. He told me, all it had was eggs, cheese and a
drizzle of black truffles. From that instant, black truffles were my new favourite. I quickly realized
that they were not only delicious, but were also super expensive. I couldn’t
ever get my hands on them again. Until now!!!
I
had done a bit of research on the Internet and found that the woods of Umbria
accounted for nearly half of the black truffle produce from Italy. I decided to
devote a day of my trip to Italy, to go pick truffles.
I
got off my train and a brisk walk for thirty minutes took me in to the woods, where
my new favourite ingredient was waiting for me. It was autumn and the trees
were nearly bare. The ground was covered with leaves, thus amplifying every
footstep. It was so quiet that I could hear my own breathing. Truffles, like
mushrooms, are found on the ground. They are difficult to find, and, the leaves
covering the forest floor were only amplifying the difficulty. I was clearing
the leaves with my foot in an attempt to get a better look at the ground.
I
had been looking for nearly an hour and I had not found a single truffle. At
about that moment, I heard some rustling in the distance. Any noise, other than
the ones made by you, in a forest, is enough to send a chill down one’s spine.
I quickly abandoned by search and tried to seek out whatever was causing that
noise. I treaded carefully and reached one of the wider trees in the forest. I
hid behind its trunk and peeped out in to the distance. There, I saw a man
holding a couple of dogs. I wondered if anyone would come this far to walk
their dogs. Maybe he lived in the woods, maybe not.
As I
watched, the dogs sniffed the ground profusely and dug occasionally. Then, the
man would reach down to the ground and pocket something. It only took me a
moment to realise that he was collecting truffles. The dogs’ acute sense of
smell was used to hunt the reclusive truffles. He had a basket in each hand,
and, he could easily fill both of them at this pace. Just as this thought
crossed my mind, a strong gust of wind blew from behind me, catching me
unaware.
Before
I could recover from the chill it sent down my fingers, I heard the dogs bark.
I peeped to see what it was all about. They were looking in my direction and barking
loudly. The wind had exposed my scent to them. They were really getting mad
now. I hoped that they would calm down eventually but they were not getting
anywhere close. Their master bent down to kneel next to them. I instantly
thought he was going to calm them and then continue truffle hunting. To my
surprise, he reached towards their leash and began unleashing them.
I
had run out of options by now and had already realised my plan of action – I had
to run. I started running before the dogs were unleashed. I had given away my
presence and position. In the distance, I could hear the dogs taking off. In
the moment, I had forgotten the direction of the train station and I was now
running quite randomly. From behind the tree, I had got a good look at the
dogs, and, I was pretty sure I would never want to get bitten by them. They
were Mastiffs of some kind and it looked like they were specifically trained
for this kind of task.
As I
ran full-speed through the forest, I tripped over a fallen tree trunk. I was
running so fast, that I couldn’t control my fall. My face thudded into the
forest floor. I could feel the pain run through the left side of my body. Yet, I
had no time to brood. I quickly sprang up and continued running. From their
footsteps, I knew that the dogs were much closer now. I felt I need to quicken
up. Branches of shrubs and fallen trees were brushing and slicing my skin. I
was fine as long I didn’t get caught up in them.
I
had been running for a good few minutes and I was beginning to tire. I wanted
to know how close the dogs actually were. I turned my neck around to catch a
glimpse of them. I had managed to keep them from getting any closer than they
were after my fall. Just as I measured the distance in my mind, I felt a change
in the gradient. I had reached a slope and I was already on it. My first fall
had taught me a hard lesson. I quickly changed orientation to make myself fall
horizontally and roll like a log. It worked, as my face was unhurt this time. I
quickly started rolling uncontrollably down the slope. Thankfully, the slope
was grassy and didn’t have any rocks. I must have rolled at least a hundred meters
before I could control my pace and come to a stop.
I
quickly looked up at the spot from where I fell. The dogs were there, looking
down at me. But, luckily for me, they had given the chase. They took a good
look at me, before turning back to head into the forest. I got up and ran, not
as fast as before, but certainly a quick run. I reached the town I had started
out it after nearly two hours of meandering. I was happy to be on the train and
heading back home. Truffles were no longer my favourite ingredient.
