Doughnut cones filled with soft serve and chilli cheese fry-filled burgers may be extravagant by our standards, but the rest of the planet is on a whole new level when it comes to crazy creative food. Here are the insane international food trends you need to know about.
#1 Black Diamond Ice cream
At the price of a small diamond, Dubai’s Black Diamond ice cream served at Scoopi is sprinkled with 23-carat edible gold and topped with slices of black truffles. With Madagascan vanilla ice cream flavoured with the world’s most expensive saffron, this humble venture racks in an ice-scream worthy $1142 per scoop. Did we mention it's served in a Versace-designed cup?
#2 Salad Cake
Ruining the good things in life everywhere, Vegedeco in Japan sells low-carb, gluten-free cakes that feature vegetables and a soy sponge. And my mother wonders why I have trust issues...
#3 Wagyu Grade 9+ Steak
On average, cattle are usually fed between a period of two-three months. The steak from Miyazaki, Japan is fed for over eight times that amount on a diet of mostly wheat and corn before it hits your plate. In addition, meat is graded between zero and nine depending on the quantity of visible fat, which effects the tenderness, flavour and juiciness of the cut. Topping the grading charts at a grade of 9+, this particular steak will set you back nearly a grand in Dubai. How much do you love a good steak?
#4 Black Watermelon
What?! Yes, it is a thing. Only grown on the island of Hokkaido in Japan, these watermelons are a pretty big deal—especially considering that a harvest will only typically yield a few dozen of these rare black orbs. A 17-pound Black Watermelon once sold for $6000.
#5 Gold Bagels
Forget a smear of good old spring onion-flavoured Philly, the bagels at the Westin Hotel includes white truffle cream cheese, goji-berry infused Riesling jelly, with gold leaves and Italian truffle. It’s hole-y for a grand.
#6 Gold Doughnuts
Melbourne’s doughnut scene has got room to grow, with the Golden Cristal Ube Donut served at the Manila Social Club in Brooklyn going for $100 a pop. It’s covered with 24k gold. Attention, Doughnut Time: it's time to up your game.
#7 Gold Soft Serve
At the surprisingly reasonable price of around $11 AUD (and probably the cheapest thing on this list), a vendor in Japan’s city of Kanazawa, known as the gold-leaf capital of the world, is serving creamy soft serve wrapped in thin, gold leaf. The leaves are tasteless—but you eat with your eyes first so it must be worth it. Or worth the Instagram at least.
Image credit: HNGN.com
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