The $25K Chocolate Sundae and Other Absurdities

Hold your breath. Just when one thought the importance we place on money and status symbols couldn't get any more absurd, restaurant owner Stephen Bruce of Serendipity unveiled a $25,000 chocolate Sunday Nov. 7.

Bruce teamed up with jeweler Euphoria New York to create the dessert in excess called Frrozen Haute Chocolate, which is made with 28 different types of cocoas - 14 of which are considered the most exotic and expensive in the world. Added to all of this are the 5 grams of 23-karat gold served in a goblet that is lined with gold. And to add to the freak show of a dessert, there is an 18 karat gold bracelet with one carat of diamonds at the bottom. To eat with is a gold spoon, which can obviously be taken home.

Now, obviously, the dessert is for the super rich. In fact, so far, Bruce has only received orders from European travelers. But it's just the point. Desserts have reached a new high with this creation - or a new low. It's hard to say, but one thing is certain: Food has become yet another status symbol we use to differentiate ourselves from one another.

Along the lines of the brand mentality, is the logic that spending an excessive amount of money on something so trivial, is proof that one must be better off than everyone else that can't afford such fare.

Bruce is also the maker of the $1,000 sundae called Golden Opulence which many celebrities like to order. Whether much of anything will come from his latest, most expensive creation remains to be seen. So far, it has only won him the Guinness World Record designation for most expensive dessert.

After all, it's the jewelry in the dessert that makes it so great. The actual food is probably no better than anything else we could order or buy from a grocery store for that matter.

The fact that a business owner would even think of creating such a product is proof of a shifting attitude in spending money. Sure, not many of us will be able to fork over the cash - or even credit - for the Frrozen Haute Chocolate, but on a smaller scale we're already using our disposable income as means to buy other frivolous items to pamper ourselves. Whether it be expensive, brand name clothing or expensive manicures and pedicures, there is no question that today's generation of consumers have more disposable incomes than ever.

The products that keep coming out on the market are proof of that. Not all of us will necessarily be able to buy all of the expensive stuff out there, but by virtue of the fact that it exists, it says that there is a segment of the population that can and will splurge on that item.

For the mass of commoners who could never fathom spending thousands for a single dessert, here's to the 99-cent McDonald sundaes.