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Caviar was a free bar snack

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Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#11

Post by mkl »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #7
mkl wrote: post #2

"It takes twenty years for a female beluga to mature, and at that point she can weigh as much as 1,800 pounds [...]. Such a fish could yield twenty pounds of eggs [when killed]." That's got to be one of the least sustainable things I've ever heard of. I tried caviar once. It didn't taste like much, and I didn't see the point.

It is as sustainable as fishing any other species of fish. Whether caught for meat or eggs the result is the same. What matters is the quantity fished. Many luxury foods became so because of culture/fashion trends, btw. For example, lobster used to be used to fertilise fields and to feed prisoners and servants in the American North-East.

Yeah, that's why I don't buy fish.

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#12

Post by oneshot9999 »

randomer666 wrote: post #5

What's interesting about beluga caviar is that it taste varies a lot. I've tried illegally caught Russian caviar and then I've tried some caviar from a sustainable farm and the former was way better for some reason.

I eat about a half kilo of poached caviar every year and I would agree. I've only had the legal stuff once or twice and it's not as nice. I'm guessing because wild caught must taste nicer than farmed?

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#13

Post by rayiner »

Caviar is delicious, and also can be relatively sustainable because sturgeon are amenable to aquaculture. Beluga caviar is actually illegal in the US now, since it’s listed as an endangered species. But California raises farmed sturgeon. (The meat itself is delicious, so it’s not being wasted.)

Fish eggs, in general, are very tasty. A favorite Bangladeshi food is fried hilsha roe: https://www.cosmopolitancurrymania.com/wp-content/uploads/20...

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#14

Post by msla »

> Caviar was served as a free bar snack, in the hope that as with peanuts, the saltiness would encourage drinking.

So it isn't just the cheap stuff.

I do have a note about the source, though:

> Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

This book vectors the myth that Romans were paid in salt.

This is not true:

http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2017/01/salt-and-salary.ht...

(Wikipedia has, of course, been fixed. The printed material never will be.)

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#15

Post by markn951 »

randomer666 wrote: post #5

What's interesting about beluga caviar is that it taste varies a lot. I've tried illegally caught Russian caviar and then I've tried some caviar from a sustainable farm and the former was way better for some reason.

It’s because the secret ingredient is crime

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#16

Post by loxs »

L_226 wrote: post #10

I enjoy beluga caviar - very expensive for what it is though. A much cheaper alternatve is (homemade) black olive tapenade - almost as good for similar usages, and far more sustainable. But I suspect the consumption of caviar is more about signalling than actual taste anyway.

Tapenade, you mean even without putting any kind of fish eggs inside? Or do you put something cheap?

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#17

Post by jrochkind1 »

mkl wrote: post #11
mytailorisrich wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is as sustainable as fishing any other species of fish. Whether caught for meat or eggs the result is the same. What matters is the quantity fished. Many luxury foods became so because of culture/fashion trends, btw. For example, lobster used to be used to fertilise fields and to feed prisoners and servants in the American North-East.

Yeah, that's why I don't buy fish.

You're ahead of the curve, soon nobody will be able to.

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#18

Post by robert_foss »

L_226 wrote: post #10

I enjoy beluga caviar - very expensive for what it is though. A much cheaper alternatve is (homemade) black olive tapenade - almost as good for similar usages, and far more sustainable. But I suspect the consumption of caviar is more about signalling than actual taste anyway.

A more comparable sustainable alternative is seaweed caviar. It looks, feels and tastes pretty much the same as any caviar.

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#19

Post by KC8ZKF »

loxs wrote: post #16
L_226 wrote: post #10

I enjoy beluga caviar - very expensive for what it is though. A much cheaper alternatve is (homemade) black olive tapenade - almost as good for similar usages, and far more sustainable. But I suspect the consumption of caviar is more about signalling than actual taste anyway.

Tapenade, you mean even without putting any kind of fish eggs inside? Or do you put something cheap?

Anchovies

Re: Caviar was a free bar snack

#20

Post by ivanhoe »

randomer666 wrote: post #5

What's interesting about beluga caviar is that it taste varies a lot. I've tried illegally caught Russian caviar and then I've tried some caviar from a sustainable farm and the former was way better for some reason.

Generally wild-caught fish taste better, probably because of the differences in diet and activity.
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