Every year a few select villages and towns in the Dordogne celebrate the black perigord truffle in their traditional ’Feast of the Truffle’. The regional delicacy is both so rare and so popular that only a few chosen areas can regularly take part in the ‘feast’. Truffles only grow for a few months every year, from late November to early February.

However this year another regional event was added to the regular annual line-up of fine food festivals. Conne-De-Labarde, a small town to the south of Bergerac, had it’s first truffle festival this year – and it was a ‘resounding success’.

Hundreds of visitors came to the town over the course of the weekend. As well as the usual market stalls offering some of the finest examples of the rare perigord truffle, often handpicked by amateur hunters throughout the Dordogne, there were exhibitions and speeches detailing the history of the delicacy and the tradition of the truffle-hunter in the Dordogne. Mr Germain of the ‘Group of the Truffle Valley Couze and Bergerac’ was on hand and gave lectures and presentations on the perigord ‘black diamond’, as well as on its lesser known relative the Green Oak Truffle.

One thing that set this fair apart from its rivals in the region was a demonstration of the abilities of the trained truffle hunting dogs of the Dordogne. Pagan, an eight year old spaniel that has been truffle hunting since the age of one, was tasked with finding buried truffles in the village square. Thanks to his keen sense of smell Pagan wasted no time and located all of the hidden treats easily.

Of course like all of the truffle exhibitions and festivals in the region, the true attraction was probably from the food on offer throughout the fair. The standard truffle brouillade or scrambled eggs and truffles was available from market vendors throughout. However the true attraction for food-lovers was the limited place gourmet meal at noon, which could only seat 80 people. According to Sudouest.com only those who reserved ahead of time had a hope of finding a seat and many who tried to book on the day were turned away.

Thanks to the popularity of the event and the success of the local truffle hunters in the face of a frozen countryside, the town’s organisers dubbed the Day of Truffles a huge success. It seems likely that this time in 2011 another regular attraction will be added to the Dordogne.

Related posts:

1. Sarlat’s “Feast of the Truffle” celebrates the ‘black diamond’
2. Truffle museum opens in the Dordogne
3. New cave a success among Dordogne’s explorers
4. Truffles from the heart of the Dordogne
5. Last chance to visit Chiviers gourmet food market this weekend

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