Newspaper Article

You expect me to eat that? ; Sturgeon eggs have risen from peasant slop to aristocratic treat - to threatened extinction

Finnin-Day, Julie

2002

Overview

In her new book, \"Caviar,\" Inga Saffron explores the colorful history surrounding this unlikely delicacy of salted sturgeon roe. Saffron charts the sturgeon's course from river-bulging abundance to near extinction, along with the mystique and legend that enabled Russian, German, and French barons to cash in on its black gold. With their pointy, armor-like plates, the massive sturgeon were harder to net than most fish, and thus caviar was always a precious commodity. While connoisseurs have savored the succulent eggs for millenniums, the Industrial Revolution brought a turning point. Technological advances made it possible to catch the fish and transport its freshly salted roe over long distances. And more important, a new middle class grew hungry for symbols of its newfound wealth. Caviar fit the bill. The biggest market is now composed of Americans, whose '90s wealth generated record demand for luxuries. Saffron also explores the slimy underbelly of the caviar black market. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and its tight controls, it's been open season along the banks of the Volga, where cash-desperate poachers harvest many times the legal catch each year. Their work feeds a strong black-market trade, and odds are good that off-the-shelf caviar was made in one of their illicit fishing shacks.

• Publisher: The Christian Science Publishing Society (d/b/a \"The Christian Science Monitor\"), trusteeship under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Subject: Black markets / Books-titles / Caviar: The Strange History and Uncertain Future of the World's Most Coveted Delicacy / Nonfiction / Saffron, Inga / Seafood