When it comes to food and drinking prices can go quickly sky high, we have seen that some wine bottle can reach 6 digits in price or that you can end up in a restaurant you can quickly end up spending half a salary for a meal with wine executed by a star chef, but what of the unprepared ingredients?
In France we have quite a few that will come at price but are of course worth it and we follow the rule “if it sounds too good to be true, it likely is” don’t fall for the trap of high quality for a low price, it doesn’t exist in food.
The Tuber (Truffle or Truffle) in Latin, in France it’s called the Black Diamond but there is not just one Truffle, as a matter of fact there are 6 categories spread between France, Italy and China. The French ones are the Black Truffle from the Perigord region (Black inside out), the Summer Truffle called St Jean (Black outside, whitish inside), the Champagne Truffle (Black outside, brown inside) and the Brumale (Black outside, greyish inside).
For the Black Truffle you have to expect a price range from $500 to $1000/Kg depending on the year and the availability of the truffles due to the weather.
Be careful of the Chinese Truffles that are collected at the base of the Himalaya Mountains; they look like the black truffles but their flavour and fragrance fade away very quickly and they are usually sold for around $50/$100 per kilo.
The one nobody would have thought of, Noiremoutier’s Bonnotte Potato, this species of potatoes is extremely capricious and it requires a lot of care. Noiremoutier is a tiny Island (19 sq. mi for 9 000 souls) off the Brittany coast, the location confers the potato a unique nutty and natural iodine flavour.
Extremely popular since 1995 the price per kilo will go from $500 to $700.
Known weapon of mass destruction the “Epoisse” sticky and stinky cheese is the most expensive French Cheese at a usual $90/Kg but in spite of the price it’s an all-time favourite.
And last, we also have the oysters if you bring back the price to real weight of the oyster and not the shell, the oyster Gillardeau is the Rolls of the Oysters, bred in the natural and protected sanctuary of Moèze-Oléron (North of Bordeaux) on the Atlantic they have a soft and sweet taste.
At $40 per dozen means that it would be nearly $110/Kg.
For non-French expensive food have a look at
- Italian’s Alba White truffle ($7000/Kg)
- Serbian asse’s milk “Pule” cheese ($1000/kg)
- Get crazy with the Japanese Yubari Melon ($12000/piece) or Densuke Watermelon ($6000/piece).
While in Paris join us in St Germain for a high quality food tour
