Here’s my research on the world’s most expensive foods. Will you pay a lot to eat it? Is it worth the money? Are you fortunate enough to have tasted and eaten it? Hey, as long as I don’t go hungry and I’m healthy, almost any food is fine. :)

  1. Saffron, a spice grown worldwide, is derived from the saffron crocus flower. A pound of dry saffron (0.45 kg) requires 50,000–75,000 flowers to make, meaning an entire football field of these flowers. Requiring so much resources and labor, prices for the spice go around US$500/pound to US$5,000/pound (US$1100–US$11,000 per kilogram).
  2. The most expensive fish would be the bluefin tuna. The bigger the pricier. A 444 pound tuna was sold for $173,600 back in 2001 at Japan’s market. Called honmaguro in Japanese, Bluefin tuna is popularly served raw as sashimi or sushi in restaurants where a plate of slices can command a bill of more than $100.
  3. The most expensive nut in the world is the Macadamia nut. The macadamia tree produces nuts only after it’s 7-10 years old, requiring fertile soil and heavy rainfall. These nuts have a very hard seed, but once it’s open it reveals a creamy white kernel containing up to 80% oil and 4% sugar. The cost of a kilogram of these nuts exceeds 30$.
  4. The most expensive caviar in the world is not the black one, but the almas caviar! The word ‘almas’ is Iranian for diamond. Beluga caviar comes from a fish over 100 years old, that is virtually unchanged for 120 million years. The luxurious caviar comes from the oldest survivor of the Dinosaur era. Beluga caviar ranges in price from more than $5,000 per kilogram in the United States.
  5. The most expensive mushroom in the world is the white truffle. The mushroom has its origins in the Langhe area of the Piedmont region in northern Italy, it can reach 12 cm diameter and 500g. These truffles are sold at a amazing price of €2,000 and €4,000 per kilogram ($1350 – $2700 per pound). The record price for this truffle was paid last year, in December, when Stanley Ho, the owner of the Macau casino paid $330,000 for 1.5kg of truffles.
  6. The most expensive vegetable would be the Hop Asparagus. A rare delicacy from the salad days of ancient Egypt is being grown and marketed at Munsley Court Farm. Hop asparagus may also be the oldest cultivated root vegetable in the world and now it is only harvested in four locations. A kilo can cost up to £150.
  7. Even potatoes can be costly and the costliest is the “La Bonnotte”. Annually, only 100 tons of this top quality potato are cultivated and collected only on the island Noirmoutier. The potato fields require to be fertilized only with seaweed in a climate shaped by the nearby sea. The cost of one single kilogram can reach €500 since this type of potato is almost extinct.
  8. The most expensive beef in the world is the type of beef coming from the Wagyu cows. These Japanese cows are fed the best grass and provided the best treatment. That is why the meat is especially tender and particularly expensive. 200 grams of a fillet cost in Europe more than 100 dollars.
  9. The current record for the most expensive tea is held by a rare Chinese green tea called Tieguanyin, which costs 1,700 Yuan ($3,000) per kilo (per 2 lb 3 oz) approximately 8.50 Yuan ($15) for a single cup. I hope for this price it can cure a lot of ailments!
  10. Kopi Luwak, or civet’s coffee, is the world’s most expensive coffee. The coffee bean is harvested from droppings of civets. The civets eat the bean and when they excrete it out, those droppings are processed for consumption. The production of these beans are rare since it depends entirely on the civets. Price per pound $120-$600.
  11. Most expensive soup is the Bird’s Nest soup. My mom was able to drink this as medicinal supplement. My aunt actually has a business in producing bird’s nest. I wasn’t able to taste it though. Known as the ‘Caviar of the East’, these valuable nests are actually made of hardened strands of the birds’ unique glue-like saliva – that’s right, spit soup. As you would expect, harvesting the nests of these cave-dwelling creatures is a tricky job, albeit one that has been refined over around 400 years. The birds nests come in a variety of colours and though all are prized for their culinary, nutritional, medicinal and even aphrodisiacal properties the rarer, and more expensive, ‘blood-red’ nests are prized most of all. Price per pound is $910 to $4535
  12. The most expensive cheese is the moose milk cheese produced at the Moose House in Bjursholm,  Sweden. This $500/lb. cheese is made from the milk of three moose cows. The moose milk cheese is only available from May until September each year, and it goes directly to exclusive hotels and restaurants in Sweden.
  13. Can you believe that Gold can be eaten? Known in the food industry as additive E175, to the rest of us it’s just plain old gold – officially the world’s most expensive foodstuff. Prized for its, erm, flavourless taste and, erm, golden colour it is used primarily in the form of small quantities of 23K gold leaf or flakes as decoration for ludicrously lavish and pricey dishes and food products.As one of nature’s edible metals gold, like iron, is safe to eat in relatively small amounts. According to EdibleGold.com, “Gold is an inert metal that simply passes through the intestinal system. Edible Gold will pass out of the body after about 24 hours unchanged without causing any harm or reaction on the body”. After which, I presume, the lavatory becomes the recipient of the world’s most expensive crap.
  14. And to find out how much it cost when put into a dish? They come up with the most expensive dessert in the world, served at Serendipity 3, a popular restaurant in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The $1000 sundae was introduced in 2004 and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive dessert. It’s made up of 5 scoops of the richest Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, Madagascar vanilla, 23K edible gold leaf and one of the most expensive chocolates in the world, Amedei Porceleana.

*Sources:

http://www.wackyarchives.com/featured/worlds-most-expensive-foods.html

http://blog.knowyourmoney.co.uk/index.php/2008/08/10-most-expensive-foods

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