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Bird’s nest soup has been a luxury in Chinese cuisine for centuries. A delicacy made from the hardened saliva nests of swiftlets (birds), which cling high on cave walls.

Harvesting them has always been perilous, requiring expert climbers and creating a built in scarcity that pushed prices sky high.

Although swiftlets resemble the barn swallow, they are not related.

Credit: Arun Roisri / Getty Images

In imperial China, especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the nests were reserved for nobles and elite banquets, prized for their rarity, supposed medicinal properties and gelatinous texture when cooked. Even today, the soup can cost you $100 a bowl.

The value remained high because each nest took weeks for a bird to build and was often damaged if not removed carefully. By the 19 century, entire maritime trade routes connected Southeast Asian nesting sites to Chinese markets.

Even today, top grade nests can cost thousands per kilogram, a testament to their centuries long reputation as one of the world’s most unexpected luxury foods.

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