Truffle preference might have a genetic component. Androstenone is one of the key molecules of truffle aroma (and an important pheromone in pig mating, since you asked), and there’s a particular olfactory receptor gene that determines your degree of sensitivity.
Truffle oil is oil flavored with 2,4-dithiapentane, and probably nothing else. That molecule is actually present in truffles, but along with a lot of other things, so on it’s own it can be quite off-putting.
Note that another “green wonder tonic,” which had been produced in the nearby French Alps since 1737, ceased production in 1793 when the Carthusians were expelled from France during the Revolution. Was Dr. Ordinaire prescribing Chartreuse for digestion before he was forced to create an alternative?
