> it is olive oil mixed with 2,4-dithiapentane, a compound that makes up part of the smell of truffles and is as associated with a laboratory as Californian food is associated with local and organic ingredients.

So, what this is saying is 2,4-dithiapentane has little more to do with a laboratory than any other randomly selected ingredient, despite being linked to it in popular culture? (Or, more likely, that this is an extremely poorly chosen analogy...)