Restaurateur pigs out on truffle

15:50 AEST Tue Nov 9 2004 Associated Press Reported

"New York restaurateur Francesco Giambelli dished out a record $US41,000 ($A53,800) for a 1.8kg prize Italian white truffle, auction organisers said.

The 85-year-old, who owns Giambelli 50th on New York's East Side, beat off an unnamed opponent in Moscow to claim the truffle, the largest ever to be sold at an auction, auction director Davide Paolini said."

Pete's Point

It appears all is well with American capitalism after the elections.

We can all be re-assured that the sanity of the world is intact, when a fungus (albeit a large fungus) is worth what some human beings can only earn in a whole year.

Then again, it appears that the former bastion of communism is not far behind since it was in the bid for this tid-bit.

I wonder how many people the price of this fungus could have fed in what are referred to as Third World countries around the world?

Bon appetit!