Now we all love food don’t get me wrong, and who can beat a nice meal in a more upmarket restaurant? But paying over $600 for a burger, or $150 for a pizza seems ludicrous – though if you have the money, why not! Here we’re going to look at some of the world’s most expensive foods, obviously this doesn’t list every type of food by any means but I’ve chosen some of the world’s favorites and those that are most common. So let’s begin!
Wagyu Beef
Wagyu beef is the world’s most expensive beef, costing around $275 a lbs for the meat itself, and a 2000 vintage cote de boeuf, or rib steak, costing $3200. Why is it so pricey? Apparently, for the steak at least, it’s due to the very small numbers of hanging aged Wagyu ribs and the very low stress levels the cattle are put through both during slaughter, with a specially designed abattoir, and during rearing. Wagyu beef itself must come from a specific breed of Japanese cattle with incredibly high fat marbling, allowing the meat to in essence melt in your mouth. There is however budget versions offering Wagyu beef burgers at $4.40 for a pack of 2.
Civet Coffee
Civet coffee or Kopi Luwak is a type of coffee derived from coffee cherries that has already passed through the South Asian palm civet or Civet cat’s digestion system and a quick search puts the price at about $75 per 9 ounce pack. The cats eat the cherries for the fleshy pulp, and as the bean travels through its digestive system the enzymes seep into the beans causing them to change. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, roasting and brewing, these beans have a distinct flavor that’s much less bitter.
Saffron Spice
Saffron holds the title of the most expensive spice, with Spanish Saffron for example costing around $300 an ounce in Walmart. Saffron comes from the saffron crocus, this flower bears up to four flowers with each having three vivid crimson stigmas, these stigmas are handpicked, dried and then air sealed which kind of explains the price. One pound is the equivalent of 80,000 flowers or one acre, so use it sparingly.
Truffles & Mushrooms
Truffles are one of the most expensive ingredients in the world, with the white costing more than the black varieties. Truffles are held very highly in society and are incredibly tasty but in many peoples opinion the price is nothing more than a status symbol with white truffles costing up to $1,400 per pound. The Perigord, a black truffle, for example costs $1.47 – and it long weighs 0.03 ounce)! Matsasuke, a prized Japanese answer to the black truffle, holds the title for the world’s most expensive mushroom, costing around $1,000 per pound.
Beluga Caviar
The most expensive of all caviar and the world’s most expensive food is ‘Almas’ or Belugan Caviar which comes from the Iranian Beluga fish, a sturgeon. A kilogram (2.2 lbs) of ‘black gold’ is sold for over $28,850. Almas is produced from a 60-100 years old rare albino sturgeon’s eggs which swam in the southern Caspian Sea which is much less polluted.
Juicy’s Outlaw Grill Hamburger
The world’s most expensive hamburger is expensive not due to ingredients but size. The burger sells for $5,000 and is made by Juicy’s Foods and Ovations Food services for Juicy’s Outlaw Grill, USA. This was a humongous burger weighing 777 lbs. The most expensive normal sized burger, when discounting those that must be purchased alongside expensive drinks etc., would be the Honky Tonk burger in Glamburger, London, England. The burger costs around £1200 ($1500) and consists of a Kobe and Wagyu patty garnished in gold leaf, with lobster, caviar, venison, a duck egg and black truffle.
The Chocopologie
The most expensive chocolate concoction comes from Knipschildt, a Danish chocolatier. The Chocopologie is a $250 dark chocolate truffle, with a black truffle at its heart. It’s made of blended 70% Valrhona cacao combined with truffle oil to form a ganache and hand rolled before being dusted with cocoa powder. In terms of simple chocolate though, the To’ak wins. To’ak means earth and tree in Ecuadorian dialects and costs around $260 per bar this, according to To’ak, is because it’s made from the 5% of cacao labeled as ‘fine-grade’ whereas normal chocolate comes from the other 95%. With that price you’d hope it’d be the size of a baseball bat but no, the bar weighs just 1.5 ounces with a 7-8 mm cacao bean in the center and must, for flavor, be eaten with wooden tongs. It takes 36 steps to produce and is 81% cacao mass and 19% sugar, that’s it.
So there we have it, there really are so many ways to spend a fortune it seems and it doesn’t have to be $100,000 watches or super cars, it can be on a pound of meat or fungi and why not? Because you’re eating it that’s why! Having said that, some of these do sound unbelievably tasty. Whatever you’re opinion on spending however much on these foods, you have to admit, if you have the funds for it, you’d love to try them even just once!
If you love these facts, have a look at some other foods, there really is an insanely priced version of almost every food, like a $1.65 million diamond encrusted fruit cake. The issue lies with foods like the fruitcake I just mentioned is that they require additions to make them stupidly priced, things like diamonds, gold or incredibly rare and that’s why I didn’t include them in the list above, it only contains pure produce because who really wants to eat gold? I don’t and I’m sure you agree!