Old World Italy will meet New World Oregon for a celebration of the Season of Truffles at the 2011 Oregon Truffle Festival, to be held in the beautiful Willamette and McKenzie ballrooms of the Valley River Inn.
The 2011 festival will feature a decidedly Italian connection as Oregon’s truffles begin to join their famed European cousins on the international culinary stage.
Guests include:Â
American photographer and author Douglas Gayeton whose monograph Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town, captures the essence of what we now call Slow Food;
Allessandro Mondello and Danilo Bernardino of Mondo Tartufo, Italy’s best know and most active truffle association;
Because of its success last year, OTF 2011 is featuring a two-day truffle dog training seminar with Jim Sanford from the Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, who will be accompanied by Jean Rand, owner of Oregon’s most accomplished truffle dog. Participants will get the authentic experience of joining the dogs on the hunt for wild truffles in their native habitat.
Other activities at the sixth annual Oregon Truffle Festival include experiencing all aspects of the fabled fungi, from learning to cook with them, to learning to cultivate them, to pairing them in sumptuous meals with Oregon’s legendary wines. The Grand Truffle Dinner will feature a multi-course truffle feast created especially for the event by five outstanding American chefs. Two award winning chefs, Holly Smith from Seattle and Pino Posteraro from Vancouver B.C., add regional flavor to its culinary scope.
