Installing a built-in oven in the kitchen has come at a heavy price for Nikhil Merchant, 37, who posts about his food escapades at @nonchalantgourmand on Instagram. Merchant's insistence on making his own sun-dried tomatoes in the oven—it requires nothing less than five hours—and baking every time his friends show up for dinner, means that his electricity bill has shot up by nearly 50 per cent. "I am not just spending on ingredients; there are other hidden, invisible costs that I need to bear. But if you enjoy cooking and feeding, you have to take in your stride," thinks Merchant, who spends at least R10,000, when he calls friends over for a meal, which is twice every month. His monthly food bills come to R60,000.

Being part of the food lover's club was never meant to be easy on the pocket. In fact, a recent study by OnePoll on behalf of Blue Diamond Almonds of 2,000 Americans, who express themselves through food, revealed that four in 10 foodies spend upwards of $51 (R3,700 approx) a week on gourmet items, while the average consumer spends $3,300 (R2.37 lakh approximately) on gourmet treats per year.