Expensive & Exclusive Food

[James_H]

I know they make a lot of it in Vietnam, which is no stranger to unethical food production practices (a lot of the cashew nuts we eat are made there using slave labour by prisoners, whose hands are damaged by the corrosive cashew fruit)

 

[Xanatic*]

The coffee I bought was shat out by a coati, not a civet. That is probably why it was cheaper.

 

[Xanatic*]

I see baby eels are up to 7000 dollars per pound.

 

[James_H]

That's an elver price

 

[Krepostnoi]

I know they make a lot of it in Vietnam, which is no stranger to unethical food production practices (a lot of the cashew nuts we eat are made there using slave labour by prisoners, whose hands are damaged by the corrosive cashew fruit)

Yes, can corroborate. There was recently a scandal to do with unscrupulous suppliers mixing the contents of used batteries into ground coffee, apparently to then pass it off as black pepper...

 

[David Plankton]

That's an elver price

No need to make sargassic comments.

 

[EnolaGaia]

One bunch of quite sweet and juicy grapes .... $11,000 US ...

Bunch of rare grapes sells for $11,000 in Japan

A bunch of 24 red grapes offered up for auction in Japan fetched a high bid of $11,000, making them the most expensive bunch of grapes on record.

The auctioneer in Kanazawa said businessman Takashi Hosokawa, who owns a chain of hot spring hotels in Ishikawa Prefecture, was the top bidder for the bunch of Ruby Roman grapes, which hit the market in 2008 and are prized for their high sugar content, low acidity and juiciness.

Hosokawa told reporters he offered the amount -- which translates to 1.2 million yen -- to celebrate the 12 years since the breed first came to market and to mark the first auction of Reiwa, the new Imperial era that began in May with the coronation of Emperor Naruhito.

Only about 26,000 Ruby Roman grapes are expected to be sold this year. Only a select number have been made available to keep demand and exclusivity high.

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/07/10/Bunch-of-rare-grapes-sells-for-11000-in-Japan/4231562779851/

 

[ramonmercado]

One bunch of quite sweet and juicy grapes .... $11,000 US ...


SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/07/10/Bunch-of-rare-grapes-sells-for-11000-in-Japan/4231562779851/

That's raisin the price too high.

 

[Mythopoeika]

A waste of money.

 

[escargot]

Expensive foods don't interest me. OTOH, how cheaply can people eat while retaining good health? Now there's a worthy question.
Cheap eating is endlessly fascinating to me.

 

[Tribble]

Expensive foods don't interest me. OTOH, how cheaply can people eat while retaining good health? Now there's a worthy question.
Cheap eating is endlessly fascinating to me.

Well, grow your own, wide variety of fruit/veg, maybe chickens for animal protein, you could probably eat very cheaply indeed...
If you lack a large market garden or farm, try Jack Monroe's recipes - designed for people on a very tight budget but want more than mechanically recovered chicken nuggets.

 

[escargot]

Oh I'm FANTASTIC at eating frugally! And no chicken nuggets for me.

There was a charity challenge a while ago where you're supposed to eat and drink the same as a refugee. Gave it some thought.

Cheap, you'd certainly lose weight, hmmmm, your teeth might benefit...

What WAS I thinking? People really have to live on that.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Here's a new contender in the crab cake sub-category ...

Restaurant attempts Guinness record with $310 crab cakes

A South Carolina restaurant is taking aim at a Guinness World Record by offering a $310 crab cake that comes encrusted with platinum.

Chef Lazarius Ken Leysath Walker of The Twist in Columbia unveiled the seafood creation with an aim toward capturing the Guinness World Record for most expensive crab cake.

The dish features black truffles and is encrusted with edible platinum.

"The thing about it was trial and error," Walker told WOLO-TV. "I've wasted so much platinum trying to get it right."

The crab cake was a secret menu item for about a year prior to its unveiling and was only served to two people. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/0...ess-record-with-310-crab-cakes/5211564075676/

 

[Tribble]

Here's a new contender in the crab cake sub-category ...


SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/0...ess-record-with-310-crab-cakes/5211564075676/

There's a world record for most expensive crab cake?

Do they have to justify the price or can someone serve any old crab cake and say "$320. I can haz record?"

 

[EnolaGaia]

There's a world record for most expensive crab cake?
Do they have to justify the price or can someone serve any old crab cake and say "$320. I can haz record?"

Good question ... It's tricky to claim something is objectively the "most expensive" / "most valuable" when "value" can vary with the situation rather than the object itself.

It reminds me of the old movie / TV trope where one among a group of castaway / marooned people has a small bit of food on his / her person (e.g., a half-eaten candy bar in a pocket) and auctions it off to whomever offers the most in return.

I wonder if there had been (e.g.) a similarly "most valuable" life preserver or lifeboat seat transaction on deck as the passengers began to understand the possible ramifications of the Titanic's situation.

Anyway ...

Off hand, I don't know whether the Guinness folks have rules covering this sort of situation.

 

[Lord Lucan]

I was in a restaurant in New York last year that offered a $1000 hamburger. I don't recall the exact ingredients, but aside from the beef, it also had foie gras and edible gold leaf. I don't know why on Earth anyone would order this aside from showing off, but it was there if you wanted to throw your money away.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I was in a restaurant in New York last year that offered a $1000 hamburger. I don't recall the exact ingredients, but aside from the beef, it also had foie gras and edible gold leaf. I don't know why on Earth anyone would order this aside from showing off, but it was there if you wanted to throw your money away.

A pointless thing. A burger is to be eaten, digested and crapped out. That poo will have cost $1000.

 

[Tribble]

A pointless thing. A burger is to be eaten, digested and crapped out. That poo will have cost $1000.

Can you get a partial refund if you use their toilet?

 

[Mythopoeika]

Can you get a partial refund if you use their toilet?

Maybe.

 

[EnolaGaia]

This specimen may be destined to be a contender in the most expensive crab cake category ...

Snow crab auctioned for record $46,000 in Japan

A snow crab caught in Japan was auctioned for a record $46,000 ...

The Tottori Prefecture Fisheries Association said the 2.7 pound itsukiboshi crab, which boasts a 5.7-inch shell, was caught at the start of the fishing season Tuesday and was sold at the first auction of the season at Tottori port.

The crab fetched a high bid of $46,000 from crab seller Kanemasa Hamashita Shoten. The company previously set a world record last year when it paid $18,300 for a crab auctioned in the same place.

"We came to this year's first auction hoping that we would bid the world's highest price again," a representative for the company told Kyodo News. "I believe it is a good crab filled with meat."

The representative said the crab is destined for a restaurant in the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo.

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/1...for-record-46000-in-Japan/6171573159961/?sl=1

 

[Swifty]

This specimen may be destined to be a contender in the most expensive crab cake category ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/1...for-record-46000-in-Japan/6171573159961/?sl=1

Morons.
Very rare food or not, that much money being spent is just a pissing contest. I'd only understand and relate to that much money being spent on edible permafrost recovered Russian woolly mammoth steaks.

 

[IbisNibs]

edible permafrost recovered Russian woolly mammoth steaks.

Aged naturally, no artificial ingredients!

 

[AlchoPwn]

Morons. Very rare food or not, that much money being spent is just a pissing contest. I'd only understand and relate to that much money being spent on edible permafrost recovered Russian woolly mammoth steaks.

I have it on good authority that our ancestors thought that mammoth trunks were the best cut of meat, and the rest was a bit bland. I suppose you could turn the off cuts into mammoth pemmican?

 

[stu neville]

I bought some Jaffa Cakes from Marks & Spencer earlier. They've got to be up there somewhere.

 

[SkepticalX]

They're full of spice. And all things nice.

I always thought Baby Spice was pretty precious.

(... I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want)

 

[Shady]

I got three packs of dark chocolate jaffa cakes for a quid, from our cheap shop

 

[Shady]

Oh, ok, i should have started a thread about cheap food, sorry i must have a had a senior moment

 

[Ogdred Weary]

The coffee I bought was shat out by a coati, not a civet. That is probably why it was cheaper.

My coffee is shat out by Nessie, which gives it a pleasantly fishy/whisky taste.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

My coffee is shat out by Nessie

Not noticed the whisky but I see now how the adjective for a fishy taste became Nestlé! :mcoat:

 

[kamalktk]

Cookies, baked in outer space. Technically not for sale though.

First you have to make an oven that works in zero g, then shoot that oven and the cookie dough into space, with lift costs being non-trivial, where astronauts bake the cookies for you.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/15/world/first-cookies-in-space-zero-gravity-oven-scn-trnd/index.html