Simon Friend

Having spent three decades procuring and supplying the world’s finest foods, and personally grading more than 16,000 kilos of fresh black winter truffles, it hurts me to see synthetic foods ruining people’s tasting experience – and ultimately, their palates.

From truffle oils to vanilla ice-cream, many consumers have no idea the foods they buy are made with substitute flavours, often from synthetic sources. Inadequate labelling doesn’t just conceal ingredients – it actively misleads consumers to believe they’re buying the real thing. In 2021 Agrifutures Australia estimated that food fraud costs the Australian economy a staggering $2–3 billion annually, highlighting six main practices: mislabelling, adulteration, substitution, counterfeiting, dilution and concealment.

“It’s vitally important for Australians to understand that most value-added truffle products [i.e. processed], no matter where they are produced, are flavoured with an artificial essence,” says Noel Fitzpatrick, vice-president of the Australian Truffle Industry Association. “This flavouring doesn’t even come close to resembling the unique and unforgettable aroma and flavour of pure fresh truffle.”

Real ingredients are made up of hundreds of volatile organic compounds working together to give depth and complexity of flavour, bringing our palates, noses and minds to life. Think caviar, cheese, milk, honey, maple syrup, saffron, vanilla, seafood and truffles.

Lab-made alternatives only ever imitate a single dominant compound from the real ingredient, resulting in a crude, exaggerated, one-dimensional flavour. They dull our ability to appreciate natural flavour and complexity. These one-note imitations recalibrate our expectation of what a real ingredient should smell and taste like, making the genuine article seem underwhelming by comparison. The problem is not merely one of authenticity, but of sensory erosion.

“Every year I spend a month showcasing black winter truffles from several different farms in different regions around Australia,” says chef Julian Hills, owner of Hot-Listed Melbourne restaurant Navi. Like wine, terroir is apparent in these natural gems.

“I highlight the unique flavours and the truffles’ enhancement of companion ingredients. People who haven’t tried much truffle can find it underwhelming at first. They’re used to the more readily available truffle oils and pastes that are single-dimensional and overpower other flavours, but don’t taste like truffle at all.”

On a recent visit to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market, I was disappointed to see no fewer than four delis selling fake truffle cheese and imitation truffle oils. The situation is no different overseas, even in a country boasting a rich truffle culture and heritage. I visited Florence a few months ago and was appalled by the fake truffle oil aroma wafting through the streets.

Food is more than fuel or pleasure. It connects us to nature and to the hands that made it. My business is privileged to work with great artisanal producers all around the world. We’re proud to promote their work and try to educate eaters about the value of real ingredients, accompanied by great stories of culture, tradition, nature, skill and community.

Our small network of producers respect Mother Nature and strive to preserve her through sustainable regenerative practices, honouring their culture and supporting their communities. We’re proud to work alongside Papua New Guinea’s indigenous communities (some of the planet’s first agriculturalists) producing world-class vanilla, and other food, against the great wave of artificially processed flavours stealing the names and heritage of the real people doing the real work.

The damage inflicted by fake flavour threatens and destabilises supply chains and penalises many human beings, their families and communities who do the innovative hard yards producing real food with nutrition and beauty. It’s time we recognise the difference between the harsh monotony of laboratory compounds and the complex symphony of flavours that nature, tradition and human skill have perfected over generations.

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