Do you like the sound of a golden zipper as it eases open a leather Louis Vuitton suitcase? What about the feeling of a cool string of Tasaki pearls hitting your palm, the pearls lightly tapping against each other? Does the sound of an Hermès Kelly bag clipping shut send shivers down your spine?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then you were probably experiencing ASMR, or an autonomous sensory meridian response. This phenomenon occurs when people see things or hear noises that trigger a physically satisfying response. ASMR videos can feature anything from a person whispering into a microphone or tapping lightly on a keyboard to make-up applications or a meal being prepared and edited together with gratifying precision, with ASMR influencers racking up millions of views and likes online. While there are still few studies about the science behind ASMR, researchers from Shenandoah University in Virginia used brain scans to discover that ASMR activated regions associated with reward, triggering oxytocin and dopamine, two hormones that aid relaxation.
In the Times Luxury world of ASMR you can experience this relaxation every day, whether that’s in a sea of new Loro Piana cashmere being pulled neatly from tissue paper, the spine of a new Smythson notebook being cracked open for the first time, or the ticking of a Bentley indicator.
Truffles have been enjoyed as a fragrant and tasty delicacy for thousands of years. The Sumerians in present-day Iraq and the ancient Greeks and Romans were fans, and some even believed that they had magical powers. Truffles are a type of fungus that grows near the roots of specific trees, including hazelnut, beech and oak, and they come in both white and black varieties. They are most commonly found in France, Italy and Spain, although they are now cultivated around the world. Truffles are known for sprouting in hard-to-find places, and often require the help of specially trained pigs and dogs to be snuffled out. While they have always been rare, they have become even rarer as a result of climate change — warmer, drier summers in the European truffle regions have left crops vulnerable. Today a single wild white truffle can cost upwards of £1,500 per kilogram.
It’s important to note that not all of these fancy fungi are created equal. As truffles have become an increasingly in-demand ingredient, it’s become more common to find copycat products using a compound called 2,4-dithiapentane to masquerade as the real thing in truffle oils and sauces.
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If you’re looking for a bona fide truffle experience, one of the best places in London is Fallow. When possible, the restaurant gets its supply from Wiltshire Truffles or distributors from around Europe, which it then serves with everything from cheese toasties to mushroom parfaits. These fresh truffles not only taste delicious, but the very particular sound they make as they are being shaved fresh onto your plate may have Pavlovian results for truffle lovers.
