be mindful of Colette's words on truffles. She so correctly advised that if one can't afford enough truffles, then better one eats no truffles at all. NB: Magnosa are officially rated as rare, but not yet endangered like some other Mediterannean fish species where controls are being called for on quota's, etc. If you get in a fervour for the flavour of chickpea's, then read on. A few years ago walking around a small town somewhere to the north of Alessandria (Liguria), we noticed a long queue forming outside a tiny, green tiled shop in the late afternoon. It was in a side street and almost a hole in the wall.  Above the door was the word 'Farinata' and the name of the owner which I've long since forgotten. We joined the queue -- that's about as English as this writer will ever get.  Inside there was an ancient wood oven where they were cooking enormous steel trays of farinata. Directly this came from the oven another would go in. Customers ordered their portions by weight and most went away with their artisan take-out.  Farinata is always cut in irregular triangular portions. We stayed and ate ours at the few tables at the back of the shop. Mineral water or local white wine was all on offer.  Neither salt nor pepper, olive oil or anything else was on the table. This was as interesting as it was new. It was a food of the people -- the older generation who