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[imran]

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.

[imran]

8. World's “Oldest” Food - Hamburger From 1999



Tonight we're gonna eat like it's 1999...
 
No, not the world's oldest recipe, as that is somewhat contentious. This is the world's oldest existing piece of “food” - a McDonald's hamburger. This burger was bought in 1999 by David Whipple, a Utah resident and still exists today, looking like it just came off the rack. He says he purchased and kept the burger to show his friends how “preservatives and enzymes worked in keeping junk food looking good.” Um, yum?

[imran]

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.