It is interesting to know that some of the dishes that today are loved by millions and are delicacies were once the food of the poor or were considered waste thrown away during cooking. Welcome to the upside-down world of haute cuisine that has taken the world by storm!
What dishes were previously considered peasant food, and now are true delicacies - see our gallery.

Caviar
Caviar has not always been a delicacy. In the 19th century, it was often present at the tables of poor families, and in American bars it was handed out for free. But today it is, of course, a real delicacy for true connoisseurs of luxury.

Chicken wings
Once discarded, chicken wings are now one of the most popular foods in the world, which has invariably affected the value of a product that could once have been obtained for nothing.

Foie gras
A delicacy of connoisseurs of haute cuisine, foie gras, translated from French means "fatty liver". The practice of force-feeding geese dates back to ancient Egypt. During the Renaissance, Jewish communities in Europe used this method of fattening birds to obtain goose fat for use in cooking. Despite the never-ending controversy about force-feeding birds, foie gras is by far one of the most famous delicacies in French cuisine.

Polenta
It still remains a mystery why simple corn porridge suddenly became a delicacy? Italy's working-class dish gained popularity after famous American chefs introduced polenta to their establishments as a gourmet culinary masterpiece.

snails
Man has been using snails for food since ancient times. In ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, they were a traditional food product. But after the French introduced these mollusks into their cuisine and introduced the world to a dish called "escargot", snails turned into a real delicacy.

Lobster
Until the 19th century, lobsters were considered the food of the American poor. Their catch in the north-east of the country was very rich, and the empty shells left at the house meant the poor existence of its owners.
The American railroad made a contribution to the distribution of lobsters, thanks to which they began to be taken away and sold outside the northeastern United States, where nothing was known about these crustaceans. Since then, the reputation of lobster meat as a dish for the poor has gone into the distant past.

Pical Meat
The goiter glands of calves and lambs were once considered waste and discarded as useless by butchers. Today, slices of juicy pikal meat are served in grill bars and expensive restaurants.

oxtail
Another once-unsuitable food item, oxtail appeared on the tables after Caribbean cuisine gained popularity in the United States.

Brisket
Once a cheap alternative to sirloin, brisket was popular among the common working class. Now it is an indispensable product for barbecue.

Angler
The outwardly terrifying monkfish was once banned from sale in France. But everything changed when the chefs suddenly discovered that the tail of the fish tastes very much like a lobster.

Sushi
Japan's street food, sushi was once a specific way of preserving freshly caught raw fish. But after World War II, sushi was brought to America as an exotic delicacy. Raw fish became incredibly popular and to this day many sushi restaurants around the world offer their visitors this dish, so loved by millions of people.

If we talk about European cuisine, then this is the very case when servile reverence for everything Western played a cruel joke on us. I remember from childhood how carefully my mother chose products in the store and what she cooked from them. Even despite the notorious shortage, all the necessary set was always available. I remember my mother's rich borscht and fragrant fish soup. In summer - grandmother's mushroom from boletus with the thickest sour cream. Entrecote, beef meatballs and oven baked chicken and potatoes. Of course, caviar and raw smoked sausage were eaten exclusively on holidays, but only now I understand that there was no need for this - everyday parental food was natural, healthy and healthy.

And then came the nineties. There was a caste of nouveaux riches who did not know what else to do and spend the easy money that had suddenly fallen on them. Sitting in restaurants became one of the distinguishing features of that time. And, of course, I wanted to find something "such" on the menu. Which needs were hurried to satisfy importers and restaurateurs. I remember right away how an obliging waiter tried to suck frog legs in one of the establishments on Nevsky Prospekt. Then I disdained, did not eat, and not in vain. For frogs were eaten by the desperate poorest French after the famous 100-year war with Britain. There was a terrible hunger and I had to eat these amphibians. About the same story with snails - initially they served as food for Italian peasants. And then the same story usually follows about all these pseudo-delicacies: when the depraved nobility no longer knew what to order for the next feast, the cunning cook served a peasant dish and the nobleman unexpectedly liked it, who began to regale them with all his friends ... well and so on. The same thing with pizza, which has always been food for the poor - all the remnants of food piled on the cake. I “saw” in this dish a delicacy of the wife of the ruler of that time, Margarita. The Spaniards also mocked at the kitchen, mother do not worry. The subject of enthusiastic clattering of the tongue in restaurants, the famous paella is also a beggarly dish. Rice was mixed with whatever was left of the previous meal, or caught in the environment without any problems. And this, including, mussels and oysters, which served as a substitute for meat for the Mediterranean poor. Gazpacho is also a Spanish invention. With this uncomplicated dish, the shepherds satisfied their hunger - in a pot they laid layers on top of each other Green pepper and cucumbers, all this was sprinkled with bread crumb and flavored with oil, pepper and garlic for taste. I just googled, the average portion of this beggarly stew in Moscow restaurants is 391 rubles.

And finally, a few words about pork. Indeed, in the USSR this meat was not consumed as widely as it is now. If you pay attention to the assortment of the same American fast food, it will also contain beef and chicken. For pork is the meat of the poor. It came to us from tight-fisted Germany and Poland and Ukraine. A pig grows much faster than a cow and feeds on anything, including its own excrement and its own cubs. In addition, these animals have extremely strong immunity (still, eat something without hitting) and appearance it is often not clear that the pig is seriously ill with something. And now all this splendor comes to our table. I highly recommend not to use! However, like snails with frogs. Leave them to the European beggars, don't waste your money on these "delicacies".

Some dishes in the distant past were eaten exclusively by the poor. But today they have gained popularity and are served in the best restaurants in the world. Let's take a closer look at some of them.

French onion soup

A fragrant and quickly satiating dish that gives strength and vigor for the whole day. This soup instantly brought to the senses after the feast. The original recipe was quite simple: onions fried in oil were poured with champagne and everything was brought to a boil. Today it is a rather thick soup, prepared for beef broth with the addition of croutons. Often it is also cooked in chicken or vegetable broth.

Bigos

This is a popular dish, the main components of which are cabbage and meat. For richness and sharpness of taste, various spices are added to it. This dish was valued by peasants, soldiers and monks for its ease of preparation and the ability to vary the taste by adding additional ingredients. Thus, bigos can be both everyday and festive dish. The characteristic features of this dish are a bright aroma of smoked meats and a sour taste.

Gazpacho

One of the most popular Spanish dishes. This chilled soup was previously a traditional dish for muleteers who took food for cooking during a long journey during a halt. The pots were lubricated with oil, garlic and salt, after which vegetables were laid in layers, each layer was sprinkled with bread crumbs. Everything was refueling olive oil, after which the pot was wrapped in a wet cloth and placed in the sun. Once the cloth was dry, the soup could be eaten. Today gazpacho is served in the best restaurants in the world.

Bouillabaisse

This is a real Marseille fishermen's soup that has reached the best restaurants peace. Previously, it was prepared from the remains of the catch. For its preparation, they took small fish, a few pieces big fish, tomatoes and garlic. After saffron was added to the soup, it turned into an unusually bright and fragrant dish. The traditional dish is prepared from fish and seafood in a cast-iron vat for about two hours. During this time, the fish is almost completely dissolved in the broth.

Fondue

A Swiss dish that appeared thanks to the shepherds. The cheese was melted down in wine, and the bread was dipped into the prepared hearty sauce. Today, for its preparation, they take Emmental or Gruyère cheese, white wine, and sometimes cherry vodka.

Paprikash

The Hungarian national dish, the so-called gravy of the cheapest parts of chicken and kefir (or sour cream), which the poor used for lunch and dinner. Today it has become famous and is prepared from white meat.

Grappa

One of the popular elite alcoholic beverages, which equates to rum, whiskey and French cognac. Previously, this drink was considered the lot of true alcoholics and was prepared in order to dispose of the waste that remained after the preparation of elite wines. Today, grappa is served in beautiful glass decanters and is in high demand.

Solyanka

A traditional Russian soup that was previously used both as a first course and as a second course. Solyanka was considered great snack to vodka. The poor appreciated her because they could drink a lot and not get drunk. Collected hodgepodge is a fatty, thick and quite satisfying soup, tinted with various flavors.

Pizza

it a traditional dish, which has deep roots, is quite cheap to prepare and very satisfying. Pizza became universally popular only after the wife of the Italian ruler Margherita tasted the common food. So the most famous pizza got its name - in her honor.

Paella

A popular dish of Spanish cuisine that has won the hearts of real gourmets. In the common people, this dish is cooked on fires and home fires. The poor collected leftovers from the master's table and combined them with rice.

Whore eggs, Patagonian toothfish and bull shoulder blades - doesn't it sound unappetizing? "Caviar" of sea urchins, Chilean sea bass, flat iron steak - a completely different matter!
Let's learn about how the marginal ways of subsistence of the poor became a symbol of wealth and prosperity.

You are abroad at a chic dinner, skillfully joking, giving guests a radiant smile. In his hand is a crystal glass with sparkling wine, next to it is black caviar on ice, on a plate is a lobster with wine and honey sauce. You are enjoying a leisurely evening playing with pincers for a few tens of dollars. Everyone laughs. You know for sure that you will have the most pleasant memories of the evening. And from lobster with a sauce that melted so nicely in your mouth.

Today lobster (another name for lobster) on the table is a prestigious attribute of an expensive dinner. But during the early British colonies of New England in the 17th century, there were so many of them that they were collected right on the shore and used as fertilizer for fields or bait for fish, squeamishly calling them sea cockroaches.

The now expensive lobster was once considered the food of the poor and fed to slaves, prisoners and servants.

The latter even sued the city of Massachusetts, demanding that they be fed lobster no more than three times a week. It is not surprising that notoriety stuck to crustaceans for a long time. Only closer to the middle of the 19th century, lobsters again gradually come to the surface and begin to be in demand. This happened for three reasons.

Firstly, the railways were actively developing and finally connected the center with the coast. Secondly, people learned how to preserve food: in 1825, a method for preserving salmon, oysters and lobsters in tins was patented in the United States. And thirdly, domestic tourism began to develop, thanks to which Boston, in whose coastal waters a lot of lobsters lived, became popular among residents of New York and Washington. They ate inexpensive boiled lobsters with pleasure, and then returned to their homes and missed the taste. So gradually, even before the Second World War, the lobster became a coveted product for which people were willing to pay good money.

Continuing the theme of the sea, it is impossible not to mention oysters. Today they often show off on the ice in expensive establishments, and in the 17th century they lay in piles on the carts of street vendors. Back in New York, coastal oyster colonies were so vast that it was long believed that up to half of the world's oysters lived in them!

It was such a popular snack that the islands of Ellis and Liberty (on the latter, in fact, there is a famous statue) used to be called the islands of Oysters, Small and Large. And one of the streets of Manhattan is still called Pearl Street (pearl in English - “pearl”): once it was all strewn with shellfish shells.

At that time, oysters were constantly collected, sold on the streets and in oyster bars, where they were cooked in all possible ways: fried in butter added to stew, thrown into deep fat and in a pan with wine. Back in the late 19th century, 6 million oysters could be seen every day tied to barges along the coastline. There were so many of them that even the poorest starving New Yorker could always get some bread and oysters.

Not surprisingly, by the beginning of the 20th century, shellfish colonies were depleted. Trade expanded, the local population grew, and gradually the reservoirs became so polluted that by the 1930s it was impossible to eat local oysters. This led to an increase in prices and the formation of a new image of oysters: from now on, this is a status product not for everyone. It's funny that he began his journey to high society with the words of Sam in the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens: "Poverty and oysters always seem to go hand in hand."

Once upon a time, oysters also replaced meat for the French poor. But because of year-round hunting, they also began to end, and then the authorities began to impose restrictions on fishermen. By the way, in the collection of laws of the Russian Empire of 1901 there is a law on the temporary prohibition of oyster fishing in the Gudauta Bay on the Black Sea. Why such a ban was introduced is not known, but it may also have been due to the general depletion of the shellfish population.

Naturally, any product in demand becomes less over time. This can lead to an increase in prices for it and elevate it to the rank of luxury.
So it was with black caviar, and with foie gras, and with sushi. And so it will be many more times with other foods that people are used to eating, but which will one day become difficult to obtain.

Much more interesting are the stories associated with the rethinking of products or their repositioning.

Off the coast of Chile and Argentina, a fish swims, which no one else calls “white gold”. It is one of the most premium and coveted delicacies that many restaurants are after. The famous Patagonian toothfish. Have you heard of this gray monster with a palisade of teeth sticking out of a crooked mouth with huge pouting lips? Even the South American fishermen did not particularly favor him and more often they simply threw them back, because they did not know what to do with this fresh and oily fish.

This was until 1977, when American buyer Lee Lantz decided to buy toothfish from the local market and try it at home. After frying, he mentally noted a delicate fatty texture, which at the same time did not have an “extra” flavor. "A blank canvas on which to write cooking masterpiece, - so Mr. Lanz could have exclaimed when he tried the Patagonian toothfish.

Only one stuck in his throat like a bone - the name itself. He understood that with the “toothfish” you couldn’t swim far. It was necessary to come up with a suitable name that would be bought with giblets.

Thus, in distant Latin America, the famous Chilean sea bass was "invented" - one of the most beautiful representatives of the aqua kingdom.

Surely you have heard only rave reviews about him. The new name was liked first by the Americans, and then by everyone else. Sales gradually improved, and already in 1994, the Office for Sanitary Supervision of Quality food products and Medicines USA recognized the name invented by Lanz as an alternative in the market. The trick was a success, however, it turned out to be dangerous for the population of the species.

This has been done many times in history. But perhaps the game was best played by the Maine lobster fishermen, who for a long time referred to sea urchin caviar as "whore's eggs" until they realized that the Japanese name "uni" could sell much better.

It's funny what we cranked up with sea ​​urchins the same number when they began to call their reproductive glands (gonads) caviar. Agree that it is much easier to sell and eat this way. At least it was - before the previous sentence.

As for rethinking, not only fish, but also meat was subjected to it. For a long time, meat-eaters valued only a few parts of the carcass of a bull: a thick edge, a thin edge, a rump and a tenderloin, which were supposed to be cut into steaks, fried and served on plates with a knife and fork. From these parts, for example, ribeye and filet mignon were cut - steaks that still have a pleasant aftertaste of high society. They are insanely popular all over the world and bring good profits to restaurateurs.

The rest, cheaper pieces were minced or cut at random and sold like that. But for some this situation seemed unfair. Is there really no more muscle in the whole bull that could compete with everyone's favorite premium steaks?

This question was asked in 2000 by Chris Calkins of the University of Nebraska and Dwayne Johnson of the University of Florida. With the help of the National Cattlemen's Association, they challenged the meat grading system. To do this, they tested 5600 muscles in search of the most fragrant and tender. As a result, 39 contenders for the role of new steaks were identified.

This is how, for example, the famous paddle flat iron and denver appeared.

New delicacies quickly became popular both with producers (now cheap pieces could not be used for minced meat, but sold more expensively in the form of steaks), and with consumers (new steaks were sold cheaper, but were in no way inferior to premium ones). The Meat Institute calculated that in 10 years, flat irons were sold for 80 million dollars!

Right before our eyes, a meat revolution took place, in which alternative steaks won.
Today, they can be found in stores and restaurants, and there are more and more of them: hanger, bavette, skirt, chuck-eye roll and vegas strip. And although these names do not mean anything to most of us, they are sure to gradually take root. This is not only beneficial for manufacturers and us, but also fits perfectly into modern trends in conscious consumption.

This story is a good example of how science can intervene in some process, rethink it and change human behavior. In this case, food. Someone may argue that science has nothing to do with it, this is pure marketing, which simply took a hitherto unpopular product and changed its positioning. Marketing is really very important, and the story of snail caviar is a prime example of this.

What do you imagine when you see the phrase "pearl of Aphrodite"? Whatever you draw in your head right now, grape snails and locksmiths are unlikely to appear there. However, it was a French locksmith who once decided to try the caviar of a grape snail, which he found in the basement of an old restaurant. Before him, of course, they also did this, but he went further and organized his own snail farm, where, together with his wife, he began to collect these transparent balls “with a touch of autumn and forest.”

Snails spawn only twice a year, literally a teaspoon each.

Then the breeders sort it, selecting only round, even balls, and soak it in saline. After that, the eggs acquire a beautiful white matte color, hence the name “Aphrodite pearls” or “escargot pearls” (escargot is an exquisite French snail dish).

According to the flavor, snail caviar, they say, is as similar as possible to black caviar. It is also expensive: 500 grams are given for $ 1,000.

At the same time, each manufacturer says that the process of growing and caring for snails is very laborious. Literally everyone complains that snails need to create special conditions: maintain a certain temperature, humidity, light and feeding regime. As if cows or pigs require less maintenance.

By the way, snails are hermaphrodites, which means that any individual can lay eggs. And they take up little space, and you can already do good business on one square meter. But it is necessary to complain about hard work, otherwise everyone will start growing caviar, and soon the price for it will be no more expensive than for chicken eggs. In the meantime, the product is new, appears in restaurants infrequently and is considered a gastronomic delight, we can enjoy it for the price of a whole cow.

Novelty and rarity are the main factors that directly affect the price of a product, and they elevate it and make it prestigious in the eyes of consumers. Sometimes it's a tribute to fashion, and sometimes it's a real demand for a rare ingredient.