Would you pay $350 for a 134-pound cheeseburger?

Despite clear indicators that many parts of the world are suffering from dire poverty, lack of adequate health care and death from starvation, fear not. There are still places in the United States, Europe and Asia where you can plunk down your money and get a magnificently decadent menu item.

In Burnley, England, for example, you can find the world's most expensive meat pie. The area is reputed for its pies, a reputation that was perhaps forever sealed in 2005 when chefs at the Fence Gate Inn created the Golden Bon Vivant pie. The pie, which sells for about $2,000 per slice, is made with ingredients claimed to be the best available. The beef comes from livestock that receives massages while they're alive. The Chinese Mutsutake mushrooms used in the pie are guarded by armed security where they're grown [source: The Mirror]. And the two bottles of wine the recipe calls for -- 1982 Château Mouton Rothschild -- can go for as much as $2,500 apiece [source: Snooth]. If the ingredients don't make the pie decadent enough, it's topped with a pressed gold leaf before serving.

You can find Buddha Jumped Over the Wall soup (Fo Tiao Qiang) throughout China, especially at birthdays and weddings. If you're squeamish about crashing strangers' events, you can also find it at some restaurants around the world, including London's Mayfair restaurant. The soup is so named because in the 19th century, one of a group of poets dining where it was first made commercially was so inspired by the aroma, he wrote an ode to it. The poet reckoned that the soup would make Buddha himself jump a wall just for a taste [source: Travel Guide China]. Buddha better have more than his begging bowl, however. The soup, which requires ordering five days in advance at the Mayfair, goes for around $200 a serving [source: The Telegraph]. Shark fin, abalone, Japanese flower mushroom and other ingredients are what give the soup its renowned taste -- and expensive price.

Hate fruitcake but love to impress your friends? You may have a little trouble deciding on whether to plunk down the $1.65 million asking price for a Japanese fruitcake, designed with diamonds [source: AP]. The fruitcake, first created in 2005, should stay for eons to come. It is edible, although the original was made as part of an exhibit on diamonds. It's suggested, however, that you spit the diamonds out.

If fruitcake's not your thing, you can still get your sweet on with a $1,000 sundae. Served at New York's Serendipity 23 restaurant, the Serendipity Golden Opulence Sundae includes five scoops of ice cream made from Tahitian vanilla beans and Madagascar vanilla, a 23-carat gold leaf and topped with Grand Passion caviar [source: The Telegraph]. The crystal goblet the sundae is served in is included in the price, as is the single mother-of-pearl spoon [source: CNN].

Cocktails are their own subset of decadently expensive menu items. The Algonquin Hotel in New York serves a $10,000 martini. There's nothing necessarily spectacular about the alcoholic ingredients, it's the diamond that served in the drink that makes for the hefty price. Perhaps the lack of remarkable ingredients is the reason why Guinness World Records has ignored the Algonquin's cocktail. Instead, they've bestowed the title of most expensive commercially available cocktail to the Hemingway Bar at the Hotel Ritz in Paris for its $489 Ritz Sidecar [source: Forbes]. This drink is made with exceedingly rare 1865 Ritz Champagne cognac, which fetches around $10,000 a bottle [source: The Wave].

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