Caviar: From free bar snacks to the most expensive dish in the world.
When asked what caviar is, most people know enough to answer “fish eggs”, while true, it’s not entirely accurate. Caviar is composed of the roe from only seven types of sturgeon. They’ve been around for an estimated 250 million years, making them one of the oldest animals on earth.
Caviar has been enjoyed as a delicacy since the days of the ancient Greeks. Somewhere along the line, however, it lost its fame and became the food of the common folk. Sturgeon was fished to be eaten just like all others; the Russian fishermen then found that many adult females were almost 25% filled with roe. Not wanting this salty by-product to go the waste, they added it to their porridge or simply ate it by the bowl.
This was the case in Russia for centuries, right up until Ivan the Terrible had a taste. The Russian Tsars developed a hunger for this salty side dish, often pairing it with vodka to bring out the more subtle flavours. It was soon exported to the nobles houses of Europe before sturgeon was swiftly declared ‘royal fish’, meaning that all sturgeon in England belonged to King Edward II, a right continued through to Queen Elizabeth II today.
Caviar gained popularity rapidly across Europe. America didn’t quite catch on and continued to give the delicacy away for free as snacks in bars. The saltiness encouraged thirst, and so they figured it would help them sell more beer, much like peanuts. There was an abundance of sturgeon in US waters, with their roe being not quite as delicious as the Beluga from Russia, but tasty nonetheless.
One man, Henry Schacht, a German immigrant wanting his own little slice of the American dream, knew well how high the demand was for caviar in Europe and began exporting it in by the shop-load, thus forming the American caviar business. Funnily enough, the Russians began exporting US caviar right back to where it came from at a massively inflated rate due to the “Russian Caviar” label. It was estimated that at one point, almost 90% of the “Russian Caviar” in the US was just repackaged American caviar.
Once the USA got involved, caviar had secured itself a spot amongst the top luxury foods in the world. One kilo of Almas caviar has a going rate of just over £20,000 (USD $34,500) but is still not the most expensive caviar you can find. Father and son, Walter and Patrick Gruell, sell one spoonful of Strottarga Bianco rue laced in 22-karat gold for $40,000. Yes, you read that right, one spoonful.
More realistically, you can expect to pay over £50 for around 30g of good quality but affordable caviar at restaurants here in the UK, or a little less from places such as Waitrose.
Common pairings include any low-salt carb, including bread, crackers or even potato. It’s also often served on canapés with hard-boiled eggs, but specialists claim that the best way to really try the delicacy is off the back of your own hand.
Fish eggs may not sound your cup of tea, but here at PTG we recommend you try everything at least once, and there’s no exception here.
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