Expensive Food

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

Living in Japan, certain foods are meticulously prepared or painstakingly grown, resulting in exorbitant costs which some in Western countries might deem ludicrous. The news this morning prompted me to start this topic, as cherries were being sold for $58 a pound! In Okayama Prefecture, where I am located, a single "Shimizu hakuto" variety of white peach, which is considered a delicacy, can cost as much as $8 apiece! Muscat grapes are another delicacy and a single bunch goes for $30. Then we have "matsutake" mushrooms, those lovely, pine-scented fungi, which can set one back $80 for a single mushroom! Have I ever purchased any of the above you ask? Hell no, but as this area is a big agricultural hotspot, I am often given such delicacies each season.

Expensive food I HAVE purchased is "taraba"" crab from Hokkaido. I eat this every winter and a single crab is around $200(that's how much I pay, wholesale!), but they are HUGE and one crab can easily feed 6 people! Any imported goods are pricey here, too, which is why I come back from my vacations sporting extra baggage filled with spices & the like!

How about where you are? Any delicacies? Any extravagancies you occasionally treat yourself to? Anything you absolutely REFUSE to spend good money on as it it so ridiculously overpriced?

Jonathan · Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 104 Location: San Diego

:shock: :shock: :shock: ...I honestly don't have the words!

salsachinita · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 7:45 am Post subject:

Truffles....! I've only tasted it once in my whole life, infused in the oil.

Lobster/crayfish. We buy them maybe once or twice a year. Depending on season, they are around $40 a pound (live), which can work out to be close to $100 per umm...animal. The shells are heavy. Cooked & frozen ones are cheaper, but not as nice.

Of course, if we get invited to one of those extravagant Chineses wedding banquets (12 courses at least, MUST include either lobster/crayfish OR crab, or you 'lose face' :roll: )........that's a different story.

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

Lobster is very expensiv here as it is imported, but I've never tasted one that was really good(spoiled on Maine lobsters from the US, perhaps..). We have a variety of "spiny lobster" sans claws ("ise-ebi" in Japanese) which is fantastic albeit quite pricey. I much prefer this over anything imported.
The Japanese adore French cuisine and I have eaten truffles here and in France numerous times, but they just don't do anything for me. I have a very sensitive snout (maybe like those pigs who hunt for the truffles?) but the taste just doesn't "wow" me... :?

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

According to today's Yomiuri English newspaper, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a law that will effectively take fois gras(or fatty duck liver, if you will) off the menus. The recently-signed law follows pleas from teh likes of animal rights activists Paul McCarney & Kim Basinger, who oppose force feeding of animals(ducks are force-fed to make their livers fatter). The law won't take effect until 2012, allowing producers to alter their practices.

Any fois gras fans out there? I eat it on occasion, if it is included in a full-course meal I have ordered, but never knowlingly order it as it is nauseatingly rich.

Laura · Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 7

I love foie gras and eat it about twice a year. I live in California so I'm ont happy about the ban. I'm going to have to make sure I eat it when I'm on vacation I suppose....

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

I've been to some restaurants here in Japan that serve HUGE slabs of it, and it's just too rich and filling. :x I think the last time I had it was at Gordon Ramsay in London a few months ago and it was just a mere morsel and wasn't overpowering and complimented the course perfectly. Laura, you'll have another 8 years till the law goes into effect in CA, so enjoy it while you can!

Laura · Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 7

That's how they serve it in SF, too -- just a little bit. It's wonderful that way. I can't imagine eating a big slab of it.

It always seems to turn up on Iron Chef, so I had a feeling it was, ahhh, big in Japan :)