Chaucer’s Bookstore Hosts Local Author & Editor Ryan Jacobs at Municipal Winemakers

THE TRUFFLE UNDERGROUND by Ryan Jacobs

Wednesday, July 17th at 7:00 pm

Municipal Winemakers  22 Anacapa Street  Santa Barbara, CA

Open to the Public

Chaucer’s Bookstore and Municipal Winemakers are honored to host local author and investigative journalist, Ryan Jacobs, as he launches his first book entitled The Truffle Underground– A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World’s Most Expensive Fungus.

Beneath the gloss of star chefs and crystal-laden tables, the truffle supply chain is touched by theft, secrecy, sabotage, and fraud. Farmers patrol their fields with rifles and fear losing trade secrets to spies. Hunters plant poisoned meatballs to eliminate rival truffle-hunting dogs. Naive buyers and even knowledgeable experts are duped by liars and counterfeits.

Deeply reported and elegantly written, this page-turning exposé documents the dark, sometimes deadly crimes at each level of the truffle’s path from ground to plate, making sense of an industry that traffics in scarcity, seduction, and cash. Through it all, a question lingers: What, other than money, draws people to these dirt-covered jewels?

“Investigative journalist and first-time author Jacobs does a remarkable job reporting from the front lines of the truffle industry, bringing to vivid life French black-truffle farmers, Italian white-truffle foragers, and their marvelously well-trained dogs.” –Booklist (starred review)

“[A] fascinating work . . . This deeply researched and eye-opening account of the lengths people will go for wealth, gratification, and a taste of the prized fungus will captivate readers.” –Publishers Weekly

Ryan Jacobs is an investigative reporter and has written for The Atlantic, Mother Jones, and Pacific Standard, where he serves as deputy editor and leads the magazine’s investigations desk. Before joining Pacific Standard, he covered international crime for The Atlantic’s global channel, reporting on the largest diamond heist in French history, international carbon market scams, and the dark side of the truffle trade, among other subjects of intrigue. He graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.