The Virginia Tech Food Studies Program will host a public lecture and tasting, "How the Truffle Saved Provence," on Sept. 8 from 5:40 p.m. to 6:30 in Newman Library 101S. The event, which is free to the public, will feature Professor Zachary Nowak, director of the Center for Food & Sustainability Studies at the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy.

Nowak digs deep into the history and fame of the truffle mushroom, this unlikeliest of luxury items. He explores how the homely fungus helped reverse a 19th-century environmental disaster in France's Provence region, and in doing so offers a portrait of this charming mushroom.

A truffle tasting will follow the lecture.