10 Most Expensive Foods

If you can purchase the foods on this list without denting your savings, you have made it. Here’s a list of the most luxurious foods you can eat, which are in no particular order. The prices of the foods vary from season to season, but here are the foods that are fit for kings.

Beluga Caviar
Caviar is fish roe or eggs and Beluga Caviar comes from the Beluga Sturgeon, which swims mostly in the waters of the Caspian Sea. A Beluga Sturgeon can take up to 20 years for it to reach its maximum size and their weight can reach up to 2 tons. The eggs of this fish are the largest used for caviar and varies in color, from purple to black. The palest color is the most expensive. A kilogram of Beluga Caviar can cost up to $5,000, making it the most expensive food you can eat. Beluga Caviar is mostly eaten on small pieces of toast and needs no embellishments. The roe has a slightly salty, fishy flavor.

White Truffles
Truffles come from an underground fungus, with the fleshy fruiting body as the edible part. They are a highly priced delicacy with an odor that some people find similar to deep fried walnuts, while others find extremely pungent. There are a few lucky ones who cannot detect the odor of truffles, however. White truffles are the most expensive and are sliced very thinly and usually served on top of other food. They are also sometimes sold suffused in oil as truffle oil.

Matsutake
Matsutake is an edible dark brown mushroom that is native to Japan. Harvesting the mushrooms is difficult, and presently, annual harvest in Japan is only less than 1,000 tons. The Japanese also import some of the mushrooms from China, Korea, and Canada. Matsutake mushrooms, which have been a part of Japanese cuisine for the last 10 centuries, are considered very valuable gifts in the corporate world of Japan. A kilogram of Japanese Matsutake can go as high as $2,000.

Saffron
Saffron, a brightly yellow spice, comes from the three stigmas and style of the crocus flower, each of which is handpicked. Depending on the season, a pound of saffron can reach more than $2,000 because it takes thousands of the stigmas and styles to make a single ounce of the spice, making it the most expensive spice in the world. Saffron is used to add color and subtle bitter flavor to food.

Kobe Beef
The Hyōgo Prefecture in Japan is the only place where the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle is bred to produce true Kobe beef. The breeders follow a secret and strict tradition in breeding their cattle, which have the genetic predisposition to intense marbling, therefore having a higher percentage of oily, unsaturated fat than any other breed of cattle. The black Wagyu cattle produces really tender and fatty meat that has almost the same texture as foie gras. The cattle are fed beer and grain and are massaged daily by humans. A pound of Kobe beef can cost up to $300.

Lobster
Lobsters are hard-shelled sea crustaceans that are native to the Atlantic coasts of North America and Europe; they are found on rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms. Lobster is usually cooked by dropping it alive in boiling water; the flesh from the tail and the claws are valued for their fine and slightly sweet flavor, and are served with melted butter.

Oysters
For centuries, oysters have been considered an aphrodisiac. They are a member of shelled mollusks which are native to the seabed of coastal waters. One of the most precious gems in the world, the pearl, comes from oysters, but those that are secreted by edible oysters are not valuable. Oysters are usually eaten raw in their own juices and with a slice of lemon.

Foie Gras
Foie gras is second to caviar as being the most favorite luxury food in the western world. It is duck or goose liver and is produced by force-feeding grain through a tube down the throat of the animal. This method is called gravage, and, because of the anatomy of ducks and geese, is considered painless to the animals. Gravage makes the liver grow many times its normal size and has a lot of fat. Foie gras has an earthy flavor and is usually served as raw paté or lightly cooked. Sale and consumption of Foie gras is banned in some cities in the United States.

Bird’s Nest
Bird’s nest, an Asian delicacy found in the high cliffs of Southeast Asia, are produced by a variety of Swifts which use their saliva to build their nests. This delicacy is famous among the Chinese, who believe that it is good for the skin and lungs. It is generally served as Bird’s nest soup; the nest in the soup becomes gelatinous and has a musty taste. It is also sometimes prepared as a sweet.

Fugu
Fugu comes from the poisonous pufferfish and is a favorite delicacy in Japan. One pinhead-drop of poison from this fish is enough to kill an adult human. Preparing fugu can only be done by a certified Japanese chef who has undergone rigorous training specifically for fugu preparation. If the fish is not prepared correctly, it can cause death. Each year, several people die in Japan from eating incorrectly prepared fugu. When fugu is prepared by a certified chef, a small and harmless amount of poison is left to give the fish a slightly numbing and tingling effect in the mouth.