Sumptuous and substantial, Piedmontese cooking is not for the faint of heart.

Pasta rarely features on the Piedmontese menu, which might start out instead with a hearty broth of bagna cauda, a platter of chopped fresh vegetables for dipping into a hot sauce of butter, oil, anchovies, cream and garlic. Garlic is used generously in Piedmont.

Another favorite is Fonduta, comprising Piedmont's best known cheese, Fontina, melted with butter, milk and eggs; sometimes garnished with shaved white truffles, it is served with fingers of toast.

Meat dishes prepared in every conceivable fashion are a mainstay of Piedmontese entrees. Casseroles, sausages, poultry, game and roasts are the ideal match for Piedmontese red wines.

And, when it comes to desserts, the Piedmontese are virtuosos. Turin is Italy's premier producer of fine quality chocolates. Zabaglione, hazelnut torte, chestnuts marinated in syrup are all mouthwatering staples of the Piedmontese dessert menu.

But Piedmont's overriding claim to gastronomic stardom is the rare and ever so costly white truffle. Coveted by chefs the world over for its pungent and compelling odor, it is dug out from the ground in the fall after detection by specially trained dogs working under the light of a full moon.