Guy Fieri Isn't A Huge Fan Of This Popular Oil Trend

If you've ever visited one of his restaurants or watched him on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives," you know that Guy Fieri knows his way around trendy, creative, and decadent food. You can watch him sample things like a clam chowder gnocchi topped with crispy fried shallots, or you can stop by one of his Guy Fieri's Kitchen and Bar restaurants for a plate of fries tossed in Buffalo dust and topped with blue cheese crumbles and a sauce made from a mixture of blue cheese dressing and wasabi. Clearly, he's no stranger to popular foods. But there's one popular trend that doesn't fit Fieri's broad palate: truffle oil.

Fieri made his personal distaste for truffle oil clear on the "Tinfoil Swans" podcast with a simple statement: "I'm not a truffle oil fan." But he did make it clear that he doesn't think that means there is no place for truffle oil. "It can be used in moderation and it serves a place," Fieri continued. "Do I think that you should be throwing truffle oil on everything that you do? If that's what you wanna do ... I don't have an attitude about it that makes me dislike you."

Fieri's position on truffle oil is, in all honesty, much milder than many famous chefs. Martha Stewart never uses truffle oil, and there are plenty of others with similar viewpoints. Anthony Bourdain, Alton Brown, and Gordon Ramsay all publicly denounced the flavored oil. Why is it that so many chefs dislike this ingredient? Well, often it's not the real deal.

Truffles are renowned for their unique earthy aroma, which makes them irresistible in many dishes. But given that truffles are small fungi that grow underground, are almost entirely wild harvested, and require extensive knowledge as well as trained animals to find, they are also one of the most expensive ingredients in the world. There are few, if any, chefs that turn their noses up at the real thing. But truffle oil is a different story.

Depending on the product you buy, your truffle oil may not actually contain real truffles. There certainly are bottles of the real stuff on the market, like this bottle of Truff brand Black Truffle Oil, that is made from olive oil infused with real black truffles. But, if you aren't careful, you can end up buying something that is actually flavored not with any type of fungus, but rather with a petroleum-derived chemical that has a similar — but quite different to the connoisseur — aroma.

Even the finest truffle oil does not match the intensity of fresh shavings of a whole, fresh truffle, but, like Fieri says, there is a place for it in the kitchen. A bottle black truffle infused olive oil is an easy hack to elevate a boring recipe. You can use it to upgrade fancy scrambled eggs or to add intrigue to a plate of fries, and truffle oil is an easy addition to turn your burgers luxurious. Even Fieri, despite not being a big fan, thinks it has some value, as truffle oil makes an appearance in his pappardelle with scallops recipe.