15 Rare Foods Once Eaten by Royalty
Dishes that most ordinary people might only imagine trying have been served at royal meals throughout history. The rarest ingredients, produced by the best chefs of their era, were exclusively available to kings and queens.
Their taste in food frequently demonstrated their riches, influence, and capacity to control resources both inside and outside of their kingdoms. These 15 unusual and uncommon dishes were formerly served at royal meals all throughout the world.
While some have lost popularity or are no longer available at all, others are still considered delicacies today.
Ortolan Buntings
These tiny songbirds were a favorite of French royalty, particularly King Louis XIV. Traditionally, the birds were captured, force-fed, drowned in Armagnac, and then roasted whole.
Nobles would eat them with napkins draped over their heads—supposedly to hide their indulgence from God, though some claim it was to trap the aromas. The practice is now banned in France due to the birds’ endangered status.
Ambergris
This waxy substance produced in the digestive systems of sperm whales was highly prized by European royalty. King Charles II of England particularly enjoyed desserts flavored with ambergris, and it was used in medieval Arabic cooking for royal courts.
The substance develops a sweet, earthy scent after floating in the ocean for years and was valued as both a food flavoring and a perfume ingredient.
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Silphium
Ancient Roman emperors paid fortunes for this now-extinct plant related to fennel. Growing only in a small region near Cyrene (modern Libya), silphium was harvested to extinction by the 1st century CE.
The plant’s resin was used as a seasoning, medicine, and perfume, with Emperor Nero reportedly receiving the last known stalk as a gift.
Swan
For medieval English royalty, swans were the ultimate status symbol on the dining table. Since the 12th century, the British Crown has claimed ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water.
Only the monarch and those granted special permission could serve swan at feasts. The birds were typically roasted and then reassembled with their feathers and skin for dramatic presentation.
Garum
This fermented fish sauce was beloved by Roman emperors, particularly Claudius. Made from fish intestines fermented in salt for months, garum was the Roman equivalent of modern soy sauce but far more expensive.
Imperial varieties used specific fish from certain regions and were produced exclusively for the emperor’s table.
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Peacock
Medieval and Renaissance European royalty showcased their wealth by serving peacocks at banquets. The birds would be carefully skinned, roasted, and then redressed in their magnificent feathers.
King Henry VIII of England was particularly fond of this showstopping dish. The meat itself is actually rather tough and dry, proving the dish was more about visual spectacle than flavor.
Saffron-Fed Goldfish
During China’s Tang Dynasty, imperial concubines and empresses ate specially raised goldfish fed exclusively on saffron. The expensive spice would permeate the fish’s flesh, giving it a golden color and unique flavor.
The practice symbolized the incredible wealth of the imperial court, as saffron was worth more than its weight in gold.
Lampreys
These primitive eel-like fish were highly prized by medieval English monarchs. King Henry I reportedly died from eating ‘a surfeit of lampreys’ against his physician’s advice.
The city of Gloucester traditionally presented a lamprey pie to the monarch at coronations, though the custom was modified for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation due to the scarcity of lampreys.
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Dodo
Before their extinction in the late 17th century, these flightless birds from Mauritius were occasionally served to visiting royalty from Portuguese and Dutch ships. While common sailors found dodo meat tough and unpalatable, special preparations were made for noble visitors.
The birds’ rapid extinction means few royals ever had the opportunity to taste them.
Seagull Eggs
Queen Victoria developed a taste for seagull eggs after visiting the Channel Islands. The eggs were collected from nests on coastal cliffs and served soft-boiled as a breakfast delicacy.
Their rarity and the danger involved in collecting them made them suitable only for royal tables. The practice is now illegal in most places due to conservation laws.
Sturgeon Marrow
The beluga sturgeon’s spinal marrow was kept for their tables of only by Russian tsars. No matter their wealth or position, the public was never allowed to enjoy this delicacy, which was served fresh and simply cooked.
This delicacy, from the same fish that yielded the best caviar, was especially popular with Tsar Nicholas II.
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Hummingbird Tongues
In Aztec society, Emperor Montezuma reportedly enjoyed dishes made from hummingbird tongues, believed to have aphrodisiac properties. The tiny tongues were collected from hundreds of birds to make a single serving.
Spanish conquistadors documented this unusual royal delicacy in their accounts of the Aztec court.
White Strawberries
In 18th-century France, royal gardeners at Versailles developed white strawberries exclusively for the king’s table. These pale, pineapple-flavored berries were never permitted to be grown elsewhere during Louis XV’s reign.
Anyone caught attempting to smuggle seeds or plants from the royal gardens faced severe punishment.
Nest of the Cave Swift
Imperial Chinese rulers from the Ming Dynasty onward prized these nests made from the solidified saliva of cave swifts. Harvested from cave walls at great risk, the nests were made into a soup believed to provide longevity and vigor.
Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty reportedly consumed this delicacy daily during his 60-year reign.
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Mammoth Meat
When mammoth carcasses were occasionally discovered preserved in Siberian ice in the 18th and 19th centuries, samples were rushed to the Russian Imperial court. Tsar Alexander II hosted a prehistoric dinner party featuring mammoth steaks in 1872.
Guests reported that the meat was coarse and had an earthy flavor, though most left their portions uneaten due to the psychological barrier of consuming 10,000-year-old meat.
From Royal Exclusivity to Modern Curiosities
These royal delicacies illustrate how food served as both sustenance and symbol throughout history. Many of these items were valued not just for their taste, but for what they represented—power, wealth, and the ability to command the rarest treasures from across the globe.
Today, as our understanding of conservation and ethics evolves, many former royal delicacies have appropriately disappeared from menus, while others have become more widely available, losing their exclusive royal connection but gaining appreciation from food enthusiasts worldwide.
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