Burger Off

A report this week from Mysupermarket.co.uk says that the average UK food bill has increased by 15 per cent a week since 2007, equating to almost £800 extra a year.

Strewth! That’s a lot of money just on stuff to eat, especially in the current climate of credit crunches, panic over house prices, and rising fuel bills.

Yet, despite most of the country’s households being on a financial diet, two epicurean ‘delights’ have been launched during the last few weeks, both retailing at exorbitant prices.

First up, an exclusive department store in Chelsea – where else? – announced the introduction of a £50 espresso. It costs this much, apparently, because of the harvesting method involved in concocting it.

Here’s a pared down version of the process: a very rare coffee bean is consumed – and then passed out – by some obscure cat-like creature in the wilds of Indonesia, before somehow being combined with yet another particularly rare coffee bean.

My initial – and quite normal, I imagine – view is that anyone daft enough to spend that much money on a drink that comes in something akin to a doll’s cup absolutely deserves to be downing a blend of cat’s pooh.

But, praise be, it seems there’s more to this beverage than a money-making gimmick: the costly coffee will only be on sale for a limited time with the proceeds going to charity. Well, that’s the current claim, at any rate.

Even more ludicrous was this week’s news that Burger King is launching an £85 burger. Burger King!

Of course, this super-duper-deluxe version of the meat favourite – which will feature foie gras and some variety of ‘rare’ cheese – will only be available in selected locations – and, naturally, good old Chelsea makes an appearance here, too.

That said, it’s probably a wise move to pick the place carefully; I can’t see BK attempting that particular marketing strategy in my home town of Paisley. Not if they were planning on keeping hold of their windows, anyway.

But really: nearly £100 for a slab of meat and a slice of cheese in a bun, when most of us are struggling against rising costs – the world’s surely gone mad.