7. Rarest Food: Bird's Nest Soup



Mmm... bird spit...
 
Bird's nests have been eaten as food in China for over a thousand years, and bird's nest soup is amongst its favorite delicacies. The nest-of-choice is built by a Southeast Asian Swiftlet, who creates their tiny nests out of their saliva. You read it right, bird's nest soup should better be called bird's spit soup, but I guess it doesn't have the same “ring” to it. Because of the dangerous nature of harvesting the nests (the swiftlets build them in hard-to-reach coastal caves), the soup can cost from $30-$100, and a kilogram of the nest can reach $10,000.

9. Most Expensive Ingredient: White Truffle



The World's Most Expensive White Truffle
 
There are truffles, and then there is the White Truffle, its most elusive and expensive cousin. It's grown in only small area around the Piedmont region of Italy during a short gestation period that is getting shorter every year due to climate change. The White Truffle is a mushroom that can not be grown in greenhouses or replicated genetically. It can only be dug up by pigs or dogs. Its scarcity has driven up the price. In 2009, the White Truffle pictured above sold for $150,000.