'Superabundant': How Oregon Truffles Bend Humans to Their Will

Truffles are mysterious organisms that thrive in the damp forests of the Pacific Northwest, especially in Oregon. Like their above-ground cousins, mushrooms, they are the fruit of vast underground networks of fungus. But unlike mushrooms, truffles stay buried underground. To reproduce, they use irresistible aromas to entice animals to dig them up, eat them, and excrete their spores in new territory. Those same aromas make truffles a culinary delight that Northwest chefs like Iron Chef Vitaly Paley, and Cooperativa's Sarah Schaefer find new and creative ways to highlight. This is the first episode of OPB's new video series on food and food systems in the Pacific Northwest, "Superabundant".