11 of the World’s Most Expensive Foods

Ayam Cemani Chicken - $2,500 a chicken or $199 a chick Ayam Cemani Chicken - $2,500 a chicken or $199 a chick

This Indonesian breed of chicken, which is highly coveted for being beautiful, exotic and obviously hard-to-get, is all black from its feathers and organs to its muscles and meat.

Greenfire Farms

Bluefin Tuna - $3,500 a pound Bluefin Tuna - $3,500 a pound

Bluefin tuna, which is known for its tender pink and red meat and is used in sushi and sashimi, sold for a record two years ago in Japan, although environmentalists regularly warn about the fish being an endangered species.

Time

Kopi Luwak Coffee - $100 to $600 a pound Kopi Luwak Coffee - $100 to $600 a pound

The most expensive coffee in the world, also called civet coffee or poop coffee, is found in the bowel movement of the Asian palm civet. The method used to produce the coffee beans is controversial due to the cruel conditions the producing animals are kept in.

Volcanica Coffee

To’ak Chocolate - $260 an ounce To’ak Chocolate - $260 an ounce

A former Wall Street investment banker living in Ecuador created To’ak chocolate, which is 81 percent pure cocoa. His hope is that dark chocolate tasting will soon become trendy.

Fox News

Pineapples - $16,000 a pineapple Pineapples - $16,000 a pineapple

These pineapples are grown in a manure-heated pineapple pit in the U.K. following techniques from the Victorian era and can take years to mature. The Lost Gardens of Heligan, which grows these pineapples, doesn’t sell them, instead it shares them among its staff.

Heligan

Hop Shoots - $600 a pound Hop Shoots - $600 a pound

Often called the most expensive vegetable in the world, hop shoots, which resemble asparagus, only emerge once a year in the spring and disappear quickly, making them difficult to forage in the wild and hence rare.

Organic Authority

La Bonnotte Potatoes - $300 a pound La Bonnotte Potatoes - $300 a pound

This potato, grown only on Noirmoutier, an island off the west coast of France, is produced on a small scale and hand-picked only once a year. The potato will be grown in the Chateau de Versailles’ gardens this year.

A Table Dans La Cuisine

Saffron - $2,000 to $10,000 a pound Saffron - $2,000 to $10,000 a pound

Saffron threads come from the stamens of a crocus, a flower which requires high maintenance. Each flower blooms for one week a year and produces only about three stamens, which must be picked by hand, hence the hefty price.

VenamiCasa

White Truffle – From $3,000 a pound to as much as $23,750 a pound White Truffle – From $3,000 a pound to as much as $23,750 a pound

Although white truffles from Italy typically go for about $300 a pound, their price reached new high a few years ago when a Russian oligarch paid a whopping $95,000 for the world’s biggest truffle, which weighed 4 lbs.

Exotic Italy

Yubari Melon - $7,500 a melon Yubari Melon - $7,500 a melon

A pair of these cantaloupe-like melons sold for $15,730 in Japan nearly two years ago on the first day of the season. The melons, which are considered a status symbol in Japan, are often presented as gifts.

Wikimedia Commons

Japanese Wagyu Beef - $300 to $1,300 a pound Japanese Wagyu Beef - $300 to $1,300 a pound

The caviar of beef is consistently marbled, low-cholesterol highly tender meat. If you can’t afford the imported Wagyu beef, you can always revert to its Kobe-style American counterpart, which is bred in similar fashion and costs a fraction of the price.

Crescent Harbor Ranch