Caviar

Today Caviar is renowned as a gourmet delicacy, but few realise that it became a luxury food only in recent times. In CAVIAR, Inga Saffron tells, for the first time , the story of how the virgin eggs of the prehistoric-looking sturgeon were transformed from a humble peasant food into a czar's delicacy - and ultimately a coveted status symbol for a rising middle class. She explores how the glistening black eggs became a culinary extravagance, while taking readers on a revealing excursion into the murky world of caviar on the banks of the Volga River and Caspian Sea in Russia, the Elbe in Europe and the Hudson and Delaware Rivers in the United States. Saffron describes the complex industry caviar has spawned, illustrating the unfortunate consequences of mass marketing such a rare commodity. The story of caviar has long been one of conflict, crisis, extravagant claims and colourful characters, such as the Greek Sea Captain who first discovered the secret method of transporting the perishable delicacy to Europe, the canny German businessmen who encountered a wealth of untapped sturgeon in American waters, the Russian Communists who created a sophisticated cartel to market caviar to an affluent Western clientelle, the dirt-poor poachers who eked out a living from sturgeon in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse and the criminal gangs that have risen in their wake; and the committed scientists who sacrificed their careers to keep caviar on the table. Filled with lore and intrigue, CAVIAR is a captivating work of culinary, natural and cultural history