# What is the Most Expensive Food There Is?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 21, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922 "2003-01-21T02:17:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/1 "2003-01-21T02:17:58Z")
There is something I have been wondering since I was a kid. What is the most expensive food there is?
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/2 "2003-01-21T02:34:01Z")
Do you mean a prepared item, like say a cake decorated with gold foil? Or something like truffles which are an expensive _ingredient_ in a dish? If it’s the latter, then IIRC, truffles have been the winner for decades now. The current price for them according to [this site](http://earthy.com/a_fresh_truffles.htm) is $60 an ounce. (Which ain’t bad, I’ve seen the price listed way higher in the past.)
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### Author:  [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/3 "2003-01-21T02:34:14Z")
Well, some caviar sells for hundreds of dollars an ounce. But really it’s hard to say since different foods can cost as much as someone is willing to pay and because prices vary according to region.
(The aristocratic Romans (during the Roman empire) would love eat things that were simply expensive and exotic, even though some – like parrot tongue – were pretty gross.)
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### Author:  [@Phouchg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phouchg)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/4 "2003-01-21T02:47:30Z")
Well, it’s not like you can have a nice big bowl of it, but [Saffron](http://www.americanspice.com/catalog/search.html?SEARCH=21&WORDS=saffron%2Bprices) is the most expensive spice, and possibly foodstuff in the world. The price quoted on the website works out to $255.09/ounce
Phouchg
Lovable Rogue
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### Author:  [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/5 "2003-01-21T02:48:17Z")
Saffron ranks up there. [Cooking.com](http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=105888) has 1-gram of saffron for $7.75, which works out to around $220 per ounce.
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### Author:  [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/6 "2003-01-21T02:49:39Z")
Lobster stuffed with tacos…🙂
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/7 "2003-01-21T02:54:20Z")
Kind of frivolous answer, but it just hit me. Years ago, NASA sent up some tomato seeds on a space mission, when the seeds returned to Earth, they were given to schools to plant. Originally, the idea was that the kids would get to eat the tomatoes which grew from the seeds, but someone thought that might be a bad idea so NASA told everyone not to eat the tomatoes that grew from those seeds. (I guess the lawyers had caught _Attack of the Killer Tomatoes_ on the Late, Late Show and it gave them nightmares. 😉 ) Now, assuming you could find one of those tomatoes, without out a doubt, it’d be the most expensive food ever produced. (Once you factored in the costs of getting the seeds into orbit and back again, plus the cost in tracking a surviving plant down so that you could harvest a tomato from it.)
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/8 "2003-01-21T02:57:41Z")
For basic ingredient type foods, saffron is often touted as the most expensive. Here is one such claim:
> **[Online Resources](https://www.chipublib.org/online-resources-2/)**
>
> Available anywhere: the Chicago Tribune archives, Mango Languages, Morningstar, eBooks, magazines and much more for all ages.
$2600/lb is a bit steep. A bit of searching suggests that $70/oz is more in line. Fortunately, a little bit of the stuff goes a long way.
We aren’t going to get a consensus, obviously.
A bottle of Chateau Lafite, 1787 was sold at auction for 105000 pounds in 1985. I don’t know what size the bottle was, or what the exchange rate was in 1985, but that has to work out to at least $5000/oz, probably more. The cork dried out, and it became a very expensive bottle of vinegar - serves someone right.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/9 "2003-01-21T03:13:56Z")
Correction - the wine was a magnum, apparently, so that would be about 50 oz, and it was $170000 US. $3400/oz is still damned expensive. The sucker, er, connoisseur, was Malcolm Forbes.
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### Author:  [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/10 "2003-01-21T03:33:22Z")
Crow
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### Author:  [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/11 "2003-01-21T04:06:46Z")
I’m willing to sell you a freshly baked (still warm!) Banana Bread made from the finest Mushy Bananas and Other Ingredients for a mere 10 000$US/ounce! Really! I will do it! I am willing to part with this Magnificent Banana Bread! It doesn’t get any better than this, folks! It’s a steal!
…Anyone…?
😃
Sorry.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/12 "2003-01-21T04:34:17Z")
In terms ofactual FOOD, as opposed to a drink or a spice, caviar is the most expensive food in the world; ANY caviar is hideously expensive, with beluga normally going for $6-$7 US per gram, but some brands go for thousands of dollars an ounce.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/13 "2003-01-21T04:47:46Z")
[Justcaviar.com](http://Justcaviar.com) has russian beluga for ~$1.40 a gram. I think honeyed hummingbird tongues might be pricier, but there doesn’t appear to be an online source for them.
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### Author:  [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/14 "2003-01-21T05:51:50Z")
I was watching a World Wildlife Fund infomercial that basically spends an hour telling you bad things that people do to animals. Apparently, Tiger Penis is a delicacy some places and, however they serve it, the price is around 5K per portion.
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### Author:  [@senor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senor)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/15 "2003-01-21T07:59:51Z")
Hola!
In New York somewhere there is a 50 dollar Hamburger with fries. This comes with “Homemade ketchup”. I read this on CNN.
Who would pay 50 dollars for a hamburger? (even though it supposed to be from an Argentinian cow that is given daily rub downs and a bubble bath) Anyone who will pay 50 bucks for a hamburger and fries is a very rich snob who bought this to show that yes, I am rich and better than you.
Homemade ketchup? What, from tomatoes from Venice italy crushed by the nimble feet of small footed Japanese women? Give me a fucking break! This shit is almost as bad as micro breweries.
SENOR
SENOR
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### Author:  [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/16 "2003-01-21T08:35:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sleeping \*
> \*\*(The aristocratic Romans (during the Roman empire) would love eat things that were simply expensive and exotic, even though some – like parrot tongue – were pretty gross.) \*\*
“Larks’ tongues. Wrens’ livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars’ earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they’re hot. They’re lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar. Tuscany fried bats…” 😃
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### Author:  [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/17 "2003-01-21T08:52:50Z")
Parrot tongues were eaten to ward off stammering and stuttering.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/18 "2003-01-21T12:18:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by senor \*
> \*\*Who would pay 50 dollars for a hamburger? (even though it supposed to be from an Argentinian cow that is given daily rub downs and a bubble bath) \*\*
I think you are referring to the [$41 for the burgers at The Old Homestead](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/01/11/offbeat.nyc.burger.ap/). Made from Japanese Kobe beef. Kobe cows have daily beer, not bubble baths.
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### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/19 "2003-01-21T12:32:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tapioca Dextrin \*
> [Kobe cows have daily beer, not bubble baths.
And massage.
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### Author:  [@Melkor28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melkor28)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-expensive-food-there-is/149922/20 "2003-01-21T12:58:46Z")
Expensive wines, like the one Mr. forbes bought, are an investment. As far as I know people rarely drink wines that expensive.
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