Would you risk your life for a truffle? In Iraq's desert, the dangerous search is worth the prize
EKEYRAN, Iraq - To reach Ekeyran, a place so desolate no one has bothered to put it on a map, you must abandon the bustle of Baghdad for a 173-mile jaunt to the city of Samawah, dodge camel caravans while driving over to Al Salman district - onetime home to Saddam Hussein's harshest prison - then find a Bedouin guide to drive you two more hours deep into the uncharted desert plains near the Iraqi-Saudi border.
There, buffeted by roaring winds amid near-freezing temperatures, you too can slowly wander the barren landscape, knife in hand as you scour the ground for hours in search of the almost cruelly obscure signs hinting at your quarry.
What is it you seek? The inauspicious-looking bonne bouche known as the desert truffle.
Delicate, subtle, light yet satisfying, the desert truffle has much of the magic of its more prestigious (and rarer) European counterpart.
Because Iraqi food has all the subtlety of a
