Tim Hayward

Caviar Emptor

If we’re to believe the headlines, there will be weeping in the dining rooms of the wealthy and mass suicides of hedonists this year as caviar, the ultimate culinary signifier of wealth and taste, becomes as illegal as drugs. In January the world’s most costly foodstuff joined tiger skins, rhino horn and ivory on the list of products from endangered species that can no longer be legally exported. Must we tearfully pack away our mother of pearl spoons and contemplate a dreary future devoid of topless blini? Perhaps there may be hope…

The ban should really come as no surprise. Until the beginning of the 19th Century, Caviar had no luxury connotations and was merely an intriguing local delicacy wherever sturgeons could be caught. It was only when stocks of beluga, sevruga and oscietra sturgeon began to decline that caviar was thought worthy of gourmet attention.

That sturgeon numbers should dwindle was tragically inevitable. They are living dinosaurs, unevolved for fourteen millennia, and can live for more than a hundred years. In the early years of caviar’s international popularity, fish were regularly being landed that were over twenty feet on length, weighing more a ton and yielding a tenth of their body weight in eggs. These leviathans proved literally irreplaceable. The harvest of eggs meant less baby fish and the twenty five years each took to reach egg laying maturity meant that restocking would always be outstripped by catch.

Until the fall of the Soviet Union the Caspian Caviar industry, which produces 90% of the global output, was controlled by Russia and Iran but political upheaval has left sturgeon fishing dangerously unregulated - trade restrictions imposed in 1997 have had no effect in the face of pollution, overfishing and a roaring illegal trade controlled by organised crime. The total ban on exports is a last ditch attempt to stop both sturgeon and caviar disappearing altogether

The good news is that the ban need not be permanent. The United Nations Congress on Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) will issue export permits to countries that produce adequately detailed fisheries plans so legal exports could resume later this year but, even if they do, supplies of wild caviar will be smaller and more expensive.

Until then what are the options for desperate caviar lovers? The legislation doesn’t prevent sales, just export and most UK suppliers claim to have reasonable stocks. At Fortnum and Mason, the Royal grocer they’re ‘…committed to ensuring that the caviar…comes from sustainable sources’. They plan to ‘draw from stocks of caviar already in the EU’ and ‘don’t ‘anticipate supply being interrupted’ - which must come as something of a relief to Her Majesty.

Experimental sturgeon farming is going on all over the world but it’s difficult to make females bear eggs any younger, even with hormone treatment, so it’s taking a long time to establish. The Americans (who have unilaterally banned beluga imports) can choose from a range of ‘domestic’ caviars and the some French producers have made their farmed caviar available online (www.natoora.co.uk). At the moment there is almost no price difference between farmed and wild caviar.

Faced with rising costs and further scarcity, the culinary world is beginning to take notice of the range of alternatives to Caspian caviar. With the increased popularity of sushi we’ve become used to seeing tobiko, the small crunchy orange caviar made from flying fish roe and the large juicy ikura prepared from salmon eggs. Here in the west salmon caviar, sold as ‘Keta’, is prepared using the same ‘malassol’ technique as the very best beluga and has a fantastic taste all of its own

Since the Thirties, thrifty hostesses have topped canapés with the rather unprepossessingly named lumpfish roe. The lumpfish is one of the 30 or so less endangered species of sturgeon. It produces large, light coloured eggs that are treated and dyed to make a rather coarser tasting caviar substitute.

While any of these will replace caviar when used as a garnish or mixed with other ingredients, a surprising newcomer is ‘Onuga’ a shamelessly faux caviar made from the very much unendangered herring. The UK based manufacturer has obviously put a lot of work into creating a credible alternative and this is the one that can really stand up to comparative tasting.

For those who can afford it, Caspian caviar will be back soon, hopefully under more ecologically friendly conditions. In the meantime there is an unexpected bonus to the ban. Faced with high costs and scarcity, chefs and foodies are experimenting with some exciting alternatives with the result that a wider public are having great experiences with different, cheaper types of caviar.



		Caviar Emptor If we’re to believe the headlines, there will be weeping in the dining rooms of the wealthy and mass suicides of hedonists this year as caviar, the ultimate culinary signifier of wealth and taste, becomes as illegal as drugs. In January the world’s most costly foodstuff joined tiger skins, rhino horn and ivory on the list of products from endangered species that can no longer be legally exported. Must we tearfully pack away our mother of pearl spoons and contemplate a dreary future devoid of topless blini? Perhaps there may be hope… The ban should really come as no surprise. Until the beginning of the 19th Century, Caviar had no luxury connotations and was merely an intriguing local delicacy wherever sturgeons could be caught. It was only when stocks of beluga, sevruga and oscietra sturgeon began to decline that caviar was thought worthy of gourmet attention. That sturgeon numbers should dwindle was tragically inevitable. They are living dinosaurs, unevolved for fourteen millennia, and can live for more than a hundred years. In the early years of caviar’s international popularity, fish were regularly being landed that were over twenty feet on length, weighing more a ton and yielding a tenth of their body weight in eggs. These leviathans proved literally irreplaceable. The harvest of eggs meant less baby fish and the twenty five years each took to reach egg laying maturity meant that restocking would always be outstripped by catch. Until the fall of the Soviet Union the Caspian Caviar industry, which produces 90% of the global output, was controlled by Russia and Iran but political upheaval has left sturgeon fishing dangerously unregulated - trade restrictions imposed in 1997 have had no effect in the face of pollution, overfishing and a roaring illegal trade controlled by organised crime. The total ban on exports is a last ditch attempt to stop both sturgeon and caviar disappearing altogether The good news is that the ban need not be permanent. The United Nations Congress on Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) will issue export permits to countries that produce adequately detailed fisheries plans so legal exports could resume later this year but, even if they do, supplies of wild caviar will be smaller and more expensive. Until then what are the options for desperate caviar lovers? The legislation doesn’t prevent sales, just export and most UK suppliers claim to have reasonable stocks. At Fortnum and Mason, the Royal grocer they’re ‘…committed to ensuring that the caviar…comes from sustainable sources’. They plan to ‘draw from stocks of caviar already in the EU’ and ‘don’t ‘anticipate supply being interrupted’ - which must come as something of a relief to Her Majesty. Experimental sturgeon farming is going on all over the world but it’s difficult to make females bear eggs any younger, even with hormone treatment, so it’s taking a long time to establish. The Americans (who have unilaterally banned beluga imports) can choose from a range of ‘domestic’ caviars and the some French producers have made their farmed caviar available online (www.natoora.co.uk). At the moment there is almost no price difference between farmed and wild caviar. Faced with rising costs and further scarcity, the culinary world is beginning to take notice of the range of alternatives to Caspian caviar. With the increased popularity of sushi we’ve become used to seeing tobiko, the small crunchy orange caviar made from flying fish roe and the large juicy ikura prepared from salmon eggs. Here in the west salmon caviar, sold as ‘Keta’, is prepared using the same ‘malassol’ technique as the very best beluga and has a fantastic taste all of its own Since the Thirties, thrifty hostesses have topped canapés with the rather unprepossessingly named lumpfish roe. The lumpfish is one of the 30 or so less endangered species of sturgeon. It produces large, light coloured eggs that are treated and dyed to make a rather coarser tasting caviar substitute. While any of these will replace caviar when used as a garnish or mixed with other ingredients, a surprising newcomer is ‘Onuga’ a shamelessly faux caviar made from the very much unendangered herring. The UK based manufacturer has obviously put a lot of work into creating a credible alternative and this is the one that can really stand up to comparative tasting. For those who can afford it, Caspian caviar will be back soon, hopefully under more ecologically friendly conditions. In the meantime there is an unexpected bonus to the ban. Faced with high costs and scarcity, chefs and foodies are experimenting with some exciting alternatives with the result that a wider public are having great experiences with different, cheaper types of caviar.

		© Tim Hayward 2005 - 2007