Just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone comes knocking with something new like incredibly expensive foods. There are many ways you can spend your money luxuriously. For instance, you can take a trip to somewhere exotic, or you can simply buy yourself a luxurious car or a house.
However, it is quite unique to spend a whooping sum of money on what enters your belly and out through your anus. Irrespective of how food is excreted, people still spend incredible amounts on satiating their appetite.
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How much are you willing to spend on food? Well, apparently some people are willing to spend more than they would on gold. Find out the most expensive foods in the world, what makes them so prestigious and if you’ve tried any or all of them before.
And the award for the 2019 world’s most expensive foods goes to…
1. Saffron
These are seasonings that should belong in a different category entirely because of how much they are worth. Saffron, nicknamed ‘Red Gold’, is the vivid crimson stigma from a crocus flower, and it’s used as a colouring agent in food. So, if you find rice that’s luminous yellow, then Saffron may have been added to it. It is used as a combined ingredient with rice, milk and fish.
The crocus flower is rare and only blooms for a week or two a year in autumn. Then it is collected and processed by hand which can be quite tedious as each flower only has three stigmas. Therefore, saffrons belong in the expensive foods category because one pound of it costs about $1,500 (about ₦543,000). It is considered more expensive than gold.
2. Albino Beluga Caviar
Caviar generally is of various types: red, black, green, pink or yellow. It is the pickled roe of the sturgeon fish. Although it is no longer a strange delicacy, it is considered one of the world’s great delicacies. While it is tricky to handle and package, it’s also incredibly rare.
One of the most expensive and rarest caviar is the Albino beluga caviar. Not everyone can afford this because it is found in the Caspian and the Black Sea. It has a golden amber colour and a slightly nutty flavour. It also takes 20 years for its egg to reach maturity. The thing about caviar is that the older it is, the whiter its caviar. Therefore, the best caviar is from an aged albino beluga sturgeon. It is sold for about $34,500 (₦12.5 million) per kilogram.
3. Coffin Bay Oysters
These used to be very common, but have become quite rare. This was as a result of over-fishing and pollution which has made them scarce. Oysters are grown on the Australian oyster farm Coffin Bay. They are healthy but one oyster can cost $100 (about ₦36,000). Since they have aphrodisiac qualities, it might be worth every cash spent.
Related: Human-Sized Giant Jellyfish Discovered Underwater
4. White truffle
These are mushrooms that are grown only in Piedmont, Northern Italy. The most valuable of them are the white ones which will only grow amongst the roots of certain trees. It is priced for its flavour and aroma. For a truffle, its price depends on its size. They are expensive because of the height people have to go to get them. White truffle cost as high as $10,000 (about ₦3.6 million) per pound. Once, Macau casino owner Stanley Ho in 2007 bought 1.5 kg of the fungus for $330,000 (about ₦119 million).
5. Iberico ham
Ham is common, but Iberico ham is rare. It is a type of cured ham from free-range pigs that have a diet of only natural herbs and acorns during the last period of their life. In addition, while the pigs are reared for three years, the ham legs are cured for a lengthy six years. It is also produced in Spain and Portugal. According to the Guinness World Records (as of 20th March 2016), the most expensive leg of ham commercially available is an Iberian ‘Manchado de Jabugo’, selling at a whooping £3,193 (about ₦1.45 million).
