Caviar: My Personal Opinion

Its a Racket. It tastes like cold fish juice. For centuries the wealthiest minority has been spending thousands of dollars on... fish eggs.

Today I had the opportunity to sit down for an hour at work and learn about caviar. We tasted 5 different types and learned a bit about its history and lure.

First of all, its only considered "caviar" if it is from a sturgeon. Everything else is just "roe."
The only ingredients are the actual eggs and salt. The eggs are filled with fish oil.
The well known Beluga caviar has been illegal in the US since 2005. And it takes the Sturgeon which produces Beluga caviar 20years to produce this much desired product.
The Caspian Sea has for centuries been the ideal source to procure caviar. But in 2008 US placed an embargo on Iranian imports. Russia still exports some caviar from the Caspian Sea, but due to pollution and serious overfishing the products are rare and extremely expensive.

Which to me, IS CRAZY.

So, this lady who represents the US's most prestigious distributor of caviar, Petrossian, visited Central Market today. Apparently Central Mkt is the only place in Austin that stocks these products.
Her company now sources roe and caviar from farmed fish, which is more sustainable, and has lowered prices. Demand for caviar, as you would imagine, has dropped in the past few years due to the economic downturn. So, it is important that my co-workers and I know how to sell this stuff to the wealthy people shopping in our store this holiday season.

I really truly don't understand. Out of the 5 that I tasted, I must say the $200 caviar tasted much better that the $30 roe. The price is only that high because for centuries rich people have held this product in high regard. Still, it is what it is. Which is, oily, salty fish eggs. Chicken eggs taste much better and are far more versatile.

However, it pairs very nicely with champagne. And metallic spoons offend its flavor. So, it must be eaten off of a pearl or golden spoon. Can't say thats true for chicken eggs.